Singapore: market, gateway for Thai rice
SINGAPOREAN traders are ready to import more Thai rice, including for re-export to third countries, as long as its quality is good, its prices are stable, and the Thai government does not implement any more farmer-subsidy programmes, according to Commerce
After leading a mission to promote Thai rice in Singapore this week, she said the island republic could be a strategic partner as a major market for Thailand’s Hom Mali (jasmine) rice and speciality rice grains. Singaporean consumers have good purchasing power and prefer healthy food like Thailand’s brown rice, red rice, Riceberry and unpolished rice.
Moreover, as Singapore is a centre of regional trading, it could help Thailand distribute its rice to third countries.
For all these reasons, the ministry will continue to promote rice exports to this market, she said.
Each year, Singapore imports about 420,000 tonnes of rice for domestic consumption, of which Thailand is a major supplier, exporting about 130,000 tonnes to the country each year. Singapore also has many international traders, shipping about 10 million tonnes of rice to many countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East.
Apiradi said that after hearing opinions from Singaporean traders, she found that they wanted the Thai government to ensure good-quality rice for export and not return to a subsidy project that would damage the market mechanism and make the rice harder to sell.
She said her ministry would cooperate with exporters to promote the sale of Thai rice in Singapore, focusing on Hom Mali and speciality rice grains and value-added products made from rice.
In an attempt to increase the value of rice export, the government has a strategy to promote rice in various markets. Singapore is one of the targeted markets for increasing sales of Thai rice as it is a main staple there, while its consumers have high purchasing power.
During the mission, Apiradi met with seven key rice traders in Singapore, while also surveying modern traders and restaurants in the country on the feasibility of getting them to sell Thai rice.
Besides Hom Mali rice, Thailand is promoting other speciality grains such as Riceberry, Sung Yod rice (which is a geographical-indication product) and organic brown rice.
Products made from rice have also been promoted, such as cooked rice for senior people, vitamin-added rice for children, cosmetics, snacks and supplements.
In 2014, Thailand exported 162,977 tonnes of rice to Singapore worth Bt4.3 billion. The volume dropped to 128,941 tonnes worth Bt3.63 billion last year. In the first five months of this year, export volume dropped 7.9 per cent to 51,194 tonnes, while value dropped 11 per cent to Bt1.34 billion.
Thailand is expected to export about 130,000 tonnes of rice to Singapore this year.
Ho Siang Ow, manager of Wee Tiong, a major Singaporean rice-trading company, said traders wanted Thai rice to be stable in quality and price so that they could continue to sell it in the home market as well as to other countries.
He said that as Myanmar and Vietnam have fragrant rice and very competitive prices, if the price of Thai rice fluctuated and its quality were not stable, traders might not be able to sell it in the future. Moreover, Thailand should no longer subsidise the rice price as that interferes with the market price and causes low-quality production as farmers are concerned only with yield.
He added that Singaporeans now favoured healthy foods. Thai rice could serve that demand, but promoting new varieties could take time, and quality needed to be maintained.
Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said Singapore was a high-potential market for high-quality rice because of its citizens’ high purchasing power, while it has more than 30 modern traders to help distribute Thai rice to consumers.
Exporters need to promote Thai rice under brands that are already trusted by consumers, he said.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the association, said exporters foresaw Asia as an increasingly bright market as consumers’ purchasing power rises while they favour rice as a main food.
Thailand’s rice shipments to Asian markets could surge from 20 per cent of the total export volume of between 9 million and 10 million tonnes to 30 per cent in the near future, he said.
Currently, Africa is a major export market for Thai rice.
Chookiat called for the government to continue promoting rice in Asian, European and Middle Eastern countries, while ensuring stable prices and good production quality.
