HANOI. Oct 9: New Market openings in the United States and the Asia are likely to boost Vietnamese rice export to a new record this year despite floods that look set to devastate the harvest tn the Mekong Delta, a report said yesterday, according to AFP

Vietnam exported 1.6 million tonnes in the first nine months, the Tuoi Tre newspa per quoted a report from the Ministry of Agriculture as say Ing Exports last year were at 1.8 million tonnes

Exporters were confident of selling another 600.000 ton ties before the end of I he year

Rice exports soared to two million tonnes In 1991 after economic reforms freed farmers from state restrictions and boosted production but sales fell over the next two years as credit shortages and transport problems emerged