Thailand's Commerce Ministry is scheduled to organise about 450 activities to stimulate exports this year, focusing mainly on four potential markets namely the Middle East, South Asia, China, and the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam), a senior official has said.
Thailand’s rice exports are likely to exceed 8 million tonnes this year as flooding caused by Typhoon Noru had little impact and a weak baht has helped overseas sales, President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA) Chookiat Ophaswongse has said.
Thailand’s rice exports in the first six months of this year surged 56.6% to 3.5 million tonnes, bringing in 60.93 billion THB (about 1.7 billion USD) in revenue, or 42.9% more year on year.
The Thai economy is still expected to grow 2.75% to 3.5% this year, helped by increased exports, more tourists, and government support, but faces rising inflationary pressures, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) has said.
Thailand is on track to meet its target of exporting 6 million tonnes of rice this year thanks to factors such as higher output, a weaker baht and an anticipated upstick demand.
Thailand’s rice exports plunged by 23 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 to 1.13 million tonnes due to its higher prices than those of competitors.
The Thai Commerce Ministry has launched measures to increase rice exports to 6 million tonnes this year, valued at around 150 billion THB (4.83 billion USD), with Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Iraq set to be the main markets under government-to-government (G2G) deals.
Thailand’s rice exports are expected to recover slightly from an estimated 5.8 million tonnes in 2020, which was the lowest in 20 years due to weak global purchasing power caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a container shortage and the strong baht.
Thailand’s rice export volume is estimated to reach 5.7 million tonnes in 2020 with revenue of about 3.8 billion USD, down 12 percent year on year, according to Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA) Honorary President Chookiat Ophaswongse.
Thailand’s exports in July contracted 11.3 percent year on year to 18.81 billion USD, while its imports were valued at 15.47 billion USD, contracting 26.38 percent compared to the same period last year.
Thailand’s exports declined by almost 23.2 percent in June compared to the same period last year, the strongest fall since July 2009, but the country’s Commerce Ministry still expects improvement in the second half of 2020.
Thailand’s customs-based exports recorded an annual growth of 2.12 percent in April as a result of higher shipments of agricultural products, food and gold, according to the country’s Commerce Ministry.
The Thai government is set to sell a combined 16,700 tonnes of fruit worth 762 million baht (23.68 million USD) via five modern trade operators during the harvest season in an effort to offset decline in exports.
Thailand is maintaining exports of rubber products and processed rubber as global demand surges, particularly for those relating to protective gear against COVID-19 such as rubber gloves and synthetic rubber used to make such gloves.
Thailand has no plans to limit rice exports despite growing food security fears worldwide, according to Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) under the Thai Commerce Ministry.
Thailand's cross-border trade reached 1.12 trillion THB in the first 10 months of the year, a year-on-year fall of 1.94 percent, according to statistics from the country’s Commerce Ministry.
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