FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Thai rice exports 'hampered by price and failure to cater to market needs'

Thai rice exports 'hampered by price and failure to cater to market needs'

The price of Thai rice and market trends were affecting sales, the Office of Agricultural Economics said, adding the government had prepared measures to deal with the price issue in the next two months.

The Office secretary general, Unchana Tracho, said that the rice Thai farmers produced was not what the market wanted.
She explained that most Thai farmers grew hard or white rice, while the market demanded soft rice. Therefore, foreign importers were opting for soft rice from Vietnam instead, causing a slowdown in the Thai rice market.
Also, Thai rice was more expensive compared to the competition, and Thai soft rice cannot compete with Vietnamese soft rice due to its quality and taste, she added.
“However, the government has researched about improving the rice quality, as well as how to process the product,” she said.
In the next two months, the Office predicted that the price of rice would not be much different from that of the others. Besides, the government has prepared measures to control the price in the future.
Unchana said that total rice production in 2021 would not exceed 27 million tonnes -- 25 million tonnes in-season and 2 million off-season.
She explained that the fall in production next year was due to the drought this year, adding that the quantity of off-season rice would depend on the water level in the large dams during November 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021.

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