Rice is on sale at a grocery store in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: VNA)Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sree-on said this is good news for Thai farmers, and this increase in export will help boost the price of rice in the country.
Thailand should be able to beat Vietnam and become the world’s second-largest rice exporter if it can ship more than 7 million tonnes of rice this year, he noted.
According to statistics of the Thai Rice Exporters Association and Customs Department (TREA), Thailand exported 764,131 tonnes of rice worth 13.12 billion THB in June alone, up 69.4% and 57.1%, respectively, compared to 450,973 tonnes worth 8.35 billion THB in May.
Chalermchai expected rice exports of Australia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Europe, Paraguay, Uruguay and Thailand to rise, and rice shipments from Colombia, Ecuador, India, Iraq, Madagascar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the US and Vietnam to drop.
However, he said many factors may affect Thailand’s rice exports in the second half of the year, such as the value of the baht, the productivity of key rice exporters, the Russia-Ukraine war’s impact on production costs and the COVID-19 economic fallout.
Vietnam exported 2.77 million tonnes of rice worth 1.35 billion USD in the first five months of this year, up 6.95% and 4.26% year on year, respectively.
TREA forecast that Thailand will ship at least 8 million tonnes of rice abroad in 2022, far higher than the plan of 7 million tonnes. The volume will generate an revenue of 130 billion THB, compared to 110 billion THB last year./.
VNA
