ABSTRACT

Of all Viet Nam's agricultural products, rice is the most important and politically sensitive consumption good. Thus, the government monitors both international and domestic rice price movements and uses trade policy to maintain tight control over rice exports and input subsidies (for example fertilizer, insecticide). Although the nation's economy is now driven largely by the ‘invisible hand’, it is agreed that government interventions are needed in this area in order to ensure social stability. This was especially deemed to be true during the turbulent period of the global rice price crisis in 2008.