Thailand’s rice exports expected to benefit from weaker baht
A weaker baht is predicted to increase Thailand’s rice exports in the rest of 2021 by making Thai rice more competitive and prompting higher global demand.
A rice field in Thailand (Photo: www.bangkokpost.com)
Bangkok (VNA) – A weaker baht ispredicted to increase Thailand’s rice exports in the rest of 2021 by makingThai rice more competitive and prompting higher global demand.
Keerati Rushchano, director-general of the Foreign TradeDepartment was quoted by local media as saying that rice exports startedimproving since June, boosted by higher purchases from China, the Philippines,Cameroon, Malaysia, Mozambique and Singapore.
Thailand's rice exports are expected to continually increasein the last quarter of this year with more than 700,000 tonnes per month, he said.
In the first eight months of this year, Thailand's riceexports totalled 3.18 million tonnes, down 14 percent from the same period oflast year, with export value of 58.68 billion THB (1.75 billion USD), down by23.3 percent year-on-year. Rice exports inSeptember rose 124.87 percent to 877,555 tonnes, he noted.
Keerati said that the country is on track to export6 million tonnes of rice this year as targeted, citing driversincluding the weaker baht, declining global COVID-19 cases and the relaxationof lockdown measures worldwide.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice ExportersAssociation, said the weaker baht, which has depreciated 13 percent against thedollar this year, has resulted in lower export prices of Thai rice, making itmore competitive against rival exporters.
He said Thai rice production is expected to increase in the2021/2022 harvest season, with milled rice production estimated at 20 milliontonnes, up from 17 million tonnes in the 2020/2021 season.
In 2019, Thailand shipped abroad 7.58 million tonnes of ricefor 131 billion THB, down 32 percent in volume and 25 percent in value overthe previous year. In 2020, the Southeast Asian country exported only 5.7million tonnes of rice./.
The Thai Government plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to sell 1 million tonnes of rice a year in a government-to-government (G2G) deal with Indonesia late this month.
The Thai Commerce Ministry has launched measures to increase rice exports to 6 million tonnes this year, valued at around 150 billion THB (4.83 billion USD), with Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Iraq set to be the main markets under government-to-government (G2G) deals.
Thailand’s rice exports plunged by 23 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 to 1.13 million tonnes due to its higher prices than those of competitors.
Thailand is on track to meet its target of exporting 6 million tonnes of rice this year thanks to factors such as higher output, a weaker baht and an anticipated upstick demand.
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A rice field in Thailand (Photo: www.bangkokpost.com) 
