Thai rice exports exceed 6m tons in 2017 so far

BANGKOK, August 4 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce reports that Thai rice exports have reached 6.37 million tons during the first seven months of this year and are, thus, anticipated to meet the official target of about 10 million tons at the end of this year. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantaporn told journalists of the update on August 3, noting that Thailand has earned about 94.49 billion baht from rice exports during the January-July 2017 period, or an about 9.68 per cent year-on-year increase. Apiradi said that the amount of Thai rice exports so far this year is an about 16.67 per cent year-on-year increase. According to the commerce minister, most of Thai rice exports during the first seven months of this year were white grains accounting for about 48 per cent of the overall rice exports, followed by Hom Mali rice and parboiled rice at about 22 per cent each. The minister maintained her ministry's projection of Thai rice exports this year at 10 million tons, cushioned by a rising demand from overseas markets due partly to impacts from drought in South Asian markets, the recovering African market and the resumption of rice imports from countries in the Middle East, namely Iraq and Iran. Besides, the Commerce Ministry's campaigns and activities on promoting Thai rice globally have helped boost exports of Thai grains so far, including the Biofach event in Germany, the Foodex event in Japan,the Thai Festival in Denmark and the Thailand Rice Convention 2017 in Thailand in May. (TNA)