Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s production of in-season rice for 2025/26 is expected to reach 24 million tonnes and its rice exports as of October 27 totalled 6.4 million tonnes, a 22% year-on-year decline, according to Charoen Laothamatas, President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
He said that the exports of Thai white rice fell by 43% to 2.9 million tonnes for reasons including India's export resumption, rising global rice supplies and import suspensions by major buyers like Indonesia and the Philippines.
However, shipments of Thai hom mali rice have performed well, exceeding 1.49 million tonnes, an 11% year-on-year increase.
Charoen said the association maintains its export target for next year at 7.5 million tonnes, including 3.5 million tonnes of white rice, 1.7 million tonnes of hom mali rice, 1.4 million tonnes of parboiled rice, 600,000 tonnes of Thai fragrant rice and 300,000 tonnes of sticky rice.
He said several challenges lie ahead for Thai rice exports, including the need to develop new rice varieties to meet global demand, production and logistics costs, baht volatility and government support.
The Thai government has allocated more than 100 billion THB (over 3 billion USD) each year for price subsidies, but this budget should be better used to improve rice production, such as upgrading irrigation systems, developing environmentally friendly rice growing areas and planning marketing strategies in line with changing global trade regulations./.
