AsemconnectVietnam - Vietnam's 2016 rice exports will dip 4.45 percent from the year before to 6.44 million tonnes, partly due to drought in the Mekong Delta food basket, an analyst said on Friday.

Rice sold across the land border, mainly to top buyer China, is also projected to fall 20.3 percent from last year to 1.45 million tonnes, said senior analyst Pham Quang Dieu at Hanoi-based AgroMonitor Co.

Dieu's forecasts are the first released in Vietnam as rain returned this month to the country's southern region, following the impact of the worst drought in 90 years.

Source: Reuters.com