BANGKOK, 6 May 2012 – With high demand from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia, the Commerce Ministry has expressed that Thailand will not lose its position as the world’s top rice exporter.
The Commerce Ministry has estimated that Thailand will achieve a government-to-government (G-to-G) rice sale of no less than 2.5-3 million tons with Bangladesh, which has recently signed an agreement to annually purchase 1 million tons of parboiled rice from the Thai government, as well as the Philippines and Indonesia.
Even though the January-April 2012 rice exports stood at 2.1 million tons, which posed a decline from last year’s figure of 3.82 tons, the Commerce Ministry has assured that Thailand will not lose its position as the world’s top rice exporter, nor will its export quantity see a decline. Once combined with the private sector’s export quantity of around 6.5-7 million tons, it is highly believed that Thailand’s rice exports will achieve the target of 9.5 million tons, worth a total of 6.8 billion US dollars, set by the Ministry of Commerce.
