BANGKOK, Jan 30 (TNA) — The Thai Rice Exporters Association foresees Thai rice exports will fall by 1 million tons to 9.5 million tons due to baht appreciation and lower prices of Vietnamese rice.
Charoen Laothammatas, president of the association, said baht was 2.8% stronger than the currencies of competitors while the Vietnamese currency appreciated by only 0.05%.
As a result, 5% broken Thai rice is priced at US$390-395 per ton while that of Vietnam at US$340 per ton. The price difference seriously concerned the private sector and the government should control baht appreciation, he said.
Apart from currency values, India gave a 5% subsidy to its exporters who thus could lower their rice prices. Meanwhile, China had huge stocks of rice and was selling part of them to Africa, affecting Thai rice there, Mr Charoen said.
In addition, major rice importers were reducing their import due to excessive import last year. The European Union introduced a tariff of 175 euros per ton of rice. That prompted Cambodia to turn to China and affect Thai rice there, he said.
He estimated the value of this year’s Thai rice exports at about US$4.8 billion or 155 billion baht. Last year Thailand exported 11.09 million tons of rice, down by 5% from 2017, but the export value was at US$5.62 billion, up by 8.3%.
Mr Charoen also said that India and Vietnam improved the quality of their rice and some rice products were better than Thai rice. (TNA)
