Most important was the relaxation of restrictions on rice exports. The export quota was increased from less than one million tonnes in 1992 to 4.5 million by 1998. However, the right to export was limited, allocated to two central government established SOEs - Vinafood I (also known as the Northern Food Corporation) and Vinafood II (Southern Food Corporation) - and a number of provincial SOEs (Kirk and Nguyen, 2009).6 Internal barriers to trade in rice that had restricted the flow of rice from the south to the north were relaxed.