Rice bags stocked up at a factory in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s rice exports decreasedin both volume and value in February 2019 due to high prices as compared to othercompetitors and its stronger baht.
Charoen Laothammatas, President of the Thai Rice ExportersAssociation (TREA), said the country’s rice shipments totalled 687,560 tonnesin February, down 27.7 percent from the same month of last year, with the exportvalue hitting 11.69 billion baht (over 368.5 million USD), down 23.5 percentyear on year.
According to Charoen, Vietnam's rice prices were 40-50 USDa tonne lower than Thai grains and lured buyers from the Philippines andMalaysia.
Charoen said that despite the export fall inFebruary, rice exporters still believe shipments will recover in March to700,000-800,000 tonnes. Thai exporters still maintain huge outstanding purchase ordersfor white rice and parboiled rice from key African and Asian buyers such asBenin, South Africa, Cameroon, China and the Philippines, which are due to takedelivery in March.
More importantly, import demand for hom malirice from potential buyers like the US and Canada remains strong.
Thai rice exporters are still maintaining their forecast forthe country's rice export target at 9.5 million tonnes this year, he said, addingthat how this year's situation will play out will depend on the drought.
Thailand exported 11.09 million tonnes of rice last year,down 5 percent from 11.67 million in 2017 but higher than 9.91 million in 2016.Export value rose 8.3 percent last year to 5.61 billion USD from 5.18 billionUSD in 2017 and 4.40 billion USD in 2016. Rice export prices averaged 507 USD permetric tonne last year, up 14.1 percent from 2017.-VNA
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Rice bags stocked up at a factory in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AFP/VNA) 
