Thai cabinet allocates over 4 billion USD for rice price guarantee next year

A rice farmer uses a motorised plough to prepare a flooded paddy field for planting, near the Mun River in tambon Tha Luang of Phimai district, Nakhon Ratchasima. (Photo:Bangkokpost.com)

Bangkok (VNA) - The Thai Cabinet on November 30 set aside more than 140 billion THB (over 4 billion USD) for rice price guarantee in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

In August, the Thai Government approved in principle the extension of the rice price guarantee programme for the 2021-2022 crop for the third consecutive year, pledging to spend 152 billion THB on this programme. However, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the allocation was too high. He has asked the concerned agencies to set up a more appropriate budget and then submit it to the Cabinet for approval.

This year Thailand expects to export about 6 million tonnes of rice as targeted because exporters have received many orders.

The trade ministry expects rice exports to pick up in the final quarter, driven largely by a weaker baht, making Thai rice more competitive and prompting higher global demand.

Rice exports started improving in June, helped by larger purchases from China, the Philippines, Cameroon, Malaysia, Mozambique and Singapore.

Thailand's rice exports tallied 3.81 million tonnes in the first nine months this year, down 6.6 percent from the same period last year, with an export value of 2.23 billion USD, a year-on-year decrease of 18.3 percent.

Thai rice production is expected to increase in the 2021/2022 harvest season, with milled rice production estimated at 20 million tonnes, up from 17 million tonnes in the 2020/2021 season. In 2020, the Southeast Asian country exported only 5.7 million tonnes of rice./.