HANOI, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reaped over 2.6 billion U.S. dollars from exporting over more than 5.2 million tons of rice in the first 10 months of this year, up 16.1 percent and 3.4 percent respectively against the same period last year, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Monday.

Between January and October, China was Vietnam's largest rice importer, but saw year-on-year decreases of 37.2 percent in volume and 27.7 percent in value, local VnEconomy daily newspaper quoted the ministry's statistics as reporting on Monday.

Export price went up 13.7 percent on-year, reaching 503 U.S. dollars on average thanks to improved quality and diversity.

Vietnam, which exported roughly 5.9 million tons of rice worth nearly 2.7 billion U.S. dollars last year, mainly to China and the Philippines, plans to ship abroad 6.5 million tons of rice this year, including higher volumes of high-grade rice such as Japonica, fragrant rice and sticky rice, according to the Vietnam Food Association.