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Thailand regains world’s top rice exporter

Thailand has resumed its position as the world’s No. 1 rice exporter in 2014 with an export volume of over 10 million tonnes.
Thailand has resumed its position as the world’s No. 1 rice exporter in 2014 with an export volume of over 10 million tonnes.

It was followed by India, with 7.5 million tonnes and Vietnam, with 6.2 million tonnes.

Thailand’s achievement was attributed to price adjustment to a levelthat is equal to those of its rivals. If the country wants to maintainits rice export, its government must stop all subsidy programmes tolimit price hikes.

A report by the Association of Thai RiceExporters, the price of Thai rice in the world market now stands at 390USD per tonne while those in India and Vietnam are 420-430 USD and400 USD per tonne, respectively.

Thailand had alwaysmaintained its No. 1 position in the world in terms of rice export formore than 50 years until the government of former Prime MinisterYingluck Shinawatra implemented a rice pledging scheme in which rice waspurchased at a price 40 percent higher than the market level.

Atpresent, Thailand has about 19.2 million tonnes of rice instockpile. The country has planned to speed up the selling of thestockpiled rice in addition to seeking to sell more rice abroad viainter-governmental contracts.

According to the UN Food andAgriculture Organisation (FAO), Thailand is likely to maintain itsposition as the world’s largest rice exporter in 2015, with an estimatedvolume of nearly 11 million tonnes.-VNA
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