Thailand's rice exports in 2018 likely to reach 10m tons

BANGKOK, June 21 (TNA) - Thailand's exports of rice in 2018 are believed to reach 10 million tons as targeted by the Ministry of Commerce, thanks to continual purchase orders from trading partners since early this year. Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara made the latest assessment on Thursday, stating that there have been purchase orders for Thai rice from, for instance, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines based on government-to-government (G-to-G), government-to-private sector (G-to-P) and private sector-to-private sector (P-to-P) contracts since early this year, backed up by the country's sufficient rice supply until August. Chutima told journalists that for Thai rice exports in the second half of this year, there should be a new purchase order of 100,000 tons of grains from China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) soon with the delivery period likely to be set during August-September 2018. Besides, there should be more purchase orders of Thai rice from such large importing markets as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Africa from the Thai private sector later this year, backed up by the country's new lots of supply of grains in the last months of this year. Chutima said her ministry also plans to send Thai business delegations, comprising of representatives from both the public and the private sectors, to strengthen relations and explore potential markets for Thai rice exports, especially varieties of fragrant rice, in such major trading partners as the United States, Canada and Australia in the coming months. The deputy minister stressed she, thus, believed that Thailand's exports of rice this year should reach her ministry's target of about 10 million tons. According to the deputy minister, she has ordered her ministry's Department of Internal Trade to check the total amount of Thai rice stocks as of June 21 to assure that there will be sufficient supply of grains to meet the global demand and to work out updated marketing plans for Thai grains in the 2018/2019 harvest year. (TNA)