Thai rice exports believed to maintain world's highest value in 2013

BANGKOK, May 27 (TNA) - Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom says that he believes the total value of Thai rice exports this year should be the highest, and that Thailand has potential to be a rice trade center of the world. Speaking to reporters on Monday, after inaugurating the Thailand Rice Convention 2013 in Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, Boonsong assessed although Thai rice exports fell short of an official target last year, he is still confident that the value of Thai rice exports should remain the highest in the world this year, but he has no ideas about an expected volume of Thai rice exports. Boonsong pointed out that the convention should enable business operators to discuss rice trade and convince their foreign counterparts to buy Thai rice. The commerce minister confirmed that the government also wants to develop Thailand into a center of rice trade in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the world. The commerce minister, meanwhile, insisted that the Thai government's rice pledging price will remain at 15,000-20,000 baht per tonne. (TNA)