Thailand returning to be world's largest rice exporter

BANGKOK, June 4 (TNA) - Thailand is returning to be the world's largest rice exporter, as the country's total rice export was on top of the global list during the first four months of this year. Charoen Laothamatas, President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, told reporters on Wednesday that, from January to May 20, 2014, Thailand exported 3.93 million tons of rice, followed by 3.74 million tons from India and 2.4 million tons from Vietnam. Charoen noted, nonetheless, that Thailand had faced the low rice price of about 390 US dollars per ton on average. Chookiat Ophaswongse, Honorary President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, predicted that Thailand should retain its rice export championship throughout this year because Thai rice remains cheaper than that of competitors, like India and Vietnam, which now sell their rice at 420-430 US dollars and about 400 US dollars per ton respectively, while demand for rice on the world market, including China, remains high and natural disasters are likely worldwide. Chookiat assessed that the price of Thai rice could rise by only 10-20 US dollars per ton this year because of huge rice stocks in the country of nearly 10 million tons. However, the US Department of Agriculture has forecast that the volume of global rice trade should amount to 40.79 million tons of paddy this year, a 4.64 per cent year-on-year increase. The US Department of Agriculture has also projected that Thailand should be the world's second largest rice exporter this year, selling about 9 million tons of rice overseas, after India, which should export 10 million tons of rice, while Vietnam should export about 6.5 million tons of rice this year. China remains the world's largest rice importer, expected to purchase 3.2-5 million tons of rice from overseas markets this year. Meanwhile, the Thai Rice Exporters Association has also estimated that Thai rice exports this year should total about 9 million tons, worth 4.75 billion US dollars or 150 billion baht. (TNA)