Thailand may export 11 million tons of rice this year

NONTHABURI, June 30 – Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn expects Thailand to export 11 million tons of rice this year as the export in the first half of the year amounted to 5.9 million tons, rising 20%. The minister said that Thai rice export was rising this year and its value reached US$2.53 billion, increasing by 16%. She believed that the export volume would exceed the government’s previous target of 10 million tons. The export price of 5% broken white rice stands at $459 per ton, up from $440 per ton last year. That of parboiled rice is at $476 per ton, up from $460. The price of Hom Mali fragrant rice is $778 per ton, up from $700. The local prices of paddy consequently stand at 8,700-8,900 baht a ton for normal paddy and 10,000-11,000 baht for Hom Mali paddy. Ms Apiradi also said that many countries were ordering Thai rice. They included Singapore and Hong Kong where Thailand had lost its rice market shares during the period of low-quality rice and high rice prices resulting from a previous rice-pledging scheme. Singapore and Hong Kong were ordering hundreds of thousand tons of Thai rice. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were buying at least 200,000 tons each, she said. The minister also said that her officials were discussing possible rice-related measures with rice millers and growers. Most respondents said they were satisfied with such measures the government implemented in the past two years. They wanted the government to prolong the measures including those to cut farmers’ costs and delay paddy sales when rice yields were reaching markets, Ms Apiradi said. (TNA)