Vietnamplus

The new director-general of the Thai Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign Trade, Ronnarong Phoolpipat, said on October 3 that he will give priority to promoting cross-border trade and government-to-government (G2G) rice deals with China to serve economic recovery post COVID-19.

Thailand has set a target of rice exports of 7-7.5 million tonnes next year, up from an estimated 6 million tonnes this year, helped by sufficient water supply and a weak baht, making Thai grains more competitive.

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.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit has pledged to speed up adjustment of the country’s rice strategy as quickly as possible as the industry is facing an array of challenges, including a strong baht and rising production costs.

The Thai Government has approved a package worth 34.8 billion baht (over 1 billion USD) to ensure rice and oil palm prices at suitable levels for farmers.

The price of sticky rice in Thailand has almost doubled from last year’s and could go up further over scared supply.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association has been upbeat about rice shipment prospects in the second half of this year.

Indonesia will import 500,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam and Thailand to contain rice price hikes and declining supply in the local market, said Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita.

The Thai Ministry of Agriculture has forecast that the country will export 9.5 million tonnes of rice in 2018, lower than 11.3 million tonnes in 2017 due to low stockpile and modest production caused by heavy rains.

A Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, has attended the Thailand Rice Convention 2017 in Bangkok from May 28 – 30.

The Thai Government is moving ahead with a megafarm scheme, aiming to cut production costs and raise productivity.

Thailand’s plan to sell off more than 11 million tonnes of rice reserves will not impact Vietnam’s rice exports, according to several exporters in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Thailand has dropped to second place in rice export, losing the top position to India, said Chairman of Thailand Rice Exporters Association Charoen Laothammathat on January 27.