Thai rice exports decreasing due to stiff price competition, association chief warns
hai rice is in trouble, with the price of 5 per cent Broken White Rice and sticky rice being very low, Thai Rice Mills Association president Kriangsak Tapananon said. New jasmine rice in the beginning of the season will be earmarked for export, and the old rice will be consumed in Thailand, he added.
“We expect jasmine rice exports to decrease to 1.2 million tonnes, while total exports of all categories of rice will decrease to 8 million tonnes, declining from a normal rate of 9.5 million to 10 million tonnes per year or 10 million to 11 million tonnes during some past years,” he said.
Kriangsak pointed out that the proportion of Thai rice on the global market was lower because rice sold by the country’s competitors was cheaper.
“In the highly competitive global market, our competitors have chosen to offer lower prices to attract buyers,” he said.
“To tackle this, we need to maybe recheck the whole rice export system,” Kriangsak said. “However, to do this by looking back at the market tendency, quantity, and price direction, the main problem is inevitably the production cost”.
Kriangsak said that to deal with the current market situation, the quantity of rice per rai should be increased to meet market demand, while new markets should be found for all kinds of rice.
It is also questionable whether the government’s policy of providing support only to the production sector including rice farmers is sufficient enough to help the entire rice trading system.
“Milling entrepreneurs are operating their business in a much weaker state than before,” he said. “They need to be more cautious about the direction they are heading in to maintain their business in this pressured situation,” he added.