Thailand ’s Minister of Commerce Boonsong Teriyapirom was firm in stating that Thailand would not lose its place as the world’s number one exporter of rice.

This assertion comes in the face of concern over the increasing prices of Thai rice. It is believed these rising prices may cause trade partners to import more rice from Vietnam and India . Thai rice, however, is of high quality and can be sold at a premium price, thus mitigating the fact that export numbers are down.

The price of Thai rice for export was increased by 100 USD than that during the same time period last year, reaching 670 per USD per tonne. The minister of commerce is certain that export volume will rise in the latter half of the year. Export numbers have been affected by the Eurozone debt crisis, but rice is still a food staple, and has seen less of an impact.

In the past five months, Thailand has already exported 3.17 million tonnes of rice, worth over USD 2 billion.-VNA