Thailand on track to meet rice exports target

[webfact]

file photo: REUTERS

 

By Reuters Staff

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is on track to export 6 million tonnes of rice this year due to an anticipated uptick in demand, an exporters body said on Friday.

 

A weaker baht, which has depreciated about 13% against the dollar this year, has resulted in lower export prices of Thai rice, making it more competitive against rival exporters, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

 

Thailand's 5% broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices were quoted at around $385-$386 per tonne on Thursday, significantly lower than those of the same grade from main competitor Vietnam RI-VNBKN5-P1 at $425-$430 per tonne.

 

Buyers that have in recent years preferred Vietnamese rice such as Malaysia, the Philippines and China, have started buying Thai rice again in recent weeks due to the attractive prices, boosting exporters’ confidence that the 6 million tonnes target can be met, he said.

 

“The exchange rate and domestic prices have increased the competitiveness of Thai rice export prices,” Chookiat told Reuters.

 

“For the remaining three months this year, I think we can export a monthly volume of more than 700,000 tonnes.”

 

Thailand exported about 3.7 million tonnes of the grain between January and September, less than Vietnam’s 4.5 million tonnes shipped over the same period.

 

Chookiat also added that Thai rice exports were unlikely to be affected by flooding across different provinces, which has affected only a small area of rice fields so far. (Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat;

 

(Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Martin Petty)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-10-04

 

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[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is on track to export 6 million tonnes of rice this year due to an anticipated uptick in demand, an exporters body said on Friday.

Good to see the farmers using the latest planting technology and methods to keep costs down.

[ChrisY1]

Still planting rice by hand......the same as a thousand years ago!

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Still planting rice by hand......the same as a thousand years ago!

Come TEOTWAWKI everyone in Thailand will still be eating, and everyone in the western world will be starving.

I think it's a good idea to plant by hand on small family farms, keeps the costs down and it's not as if they have anything better to do.

Edited October 4, 2021 by BritManToo

[metisdead]

A post with insulting comments to another member has been removed.