Vietnam’s rice exports this year are likely to tumble to the lowest since 2009, the Vietnam Food Association has said.

Exports began falling in March, eventually hitting only 380,000 metric tons in June, according to the VFA.

In the first half of this year, Vietnam’s rice exports topped 2.65 million metric tons, down two percent from a year earlier, the association said. The Jan-June rice exports were worth US$1.14 billion.

The VFA therefore predicted exports to reach three million metric tons in the second half of this year, meaning the full-year figure is expected to be 5.65 million metric tons, an eight-year low.

This will also be the first time the country’s annual rice exports drop to below six million metric tons, according to the VFA.

Vietnamese rice exporters were off to a good start in the first quarter, thanks to deliveries of orders placed late last year, including one million metric tons by Indonesia and another 450,000 metric tons by the Philippines.

However, the lack of new orders and fierce competitions from other Asian rice exporting countries have strongly hit exports in the second quarter, the VFA said.