According to the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, in 2019, Thailand exported 7.58 million tons of rice, earning more than US $ 4.2 billion, down 32% in volume and 25% in value over the year. before. Meanwhile, the Thai Rice Exporters as‌sociation (TREA) aims to export 7.5 million tons of rice in 2020, down from an average of 10 million tons annually. The number of TREAs given is similar to the forecast of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand. This is the lowest target of this East-South Asia country since 2013. President TREA Cha-Lao-Lao-said that Thailand is at risk of losing second place in the ranking. If the situation does not improve, the world’s top rice exporters will.

Experts said that Thailand’s rice export industry encountered difficulties firstly due to prolonged drought, causing limited supply, pushing up prices of rice. Thailand’s rice production is negatively affected when 18 of its provinces, including many large farming areas, suffer from drought and lack of water supply from the dams. The Thai Meteorological Department predicts that the drought will last until May and will be the most serious in the last 40 years. The current amount of water is not enough for off-season rice cultivation. In addition, in 2019, the baht increased by nearly 9% against the dollar, limiting the competitiveness of Thailand’s export rice price compared to major producers such as India, Vietnam and China. From the beginning of the year until now, the price of 5% broken Thai rice has been kept higher than other countries.

TREA President Cha-Lao-Lao said that one of the other reasons why Thailand’s rice exports fell was due to the fact that the country has not focused on developing new rice varieties to meet the change of world market. According to the Thai National Information Agency, most of the country’s rice varieties offer white and hard rice, which is no longer suitable for consumers’ demand for flexible and soft rice. Meanwhile, other rice exporting countries in the region are constantly developing new rice varieties to improve both quality and yield of crops to meet the needs of the market.

In the face of the above situation, the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives recently held a meeting with relevant authorities and exporters to find a solution to the problem of maintaining the position of Thai rice. on the world market. Accordingly, in the coming time, relevant agencies are tasked with planning for coping with drought and planning rice cultivation areas to implement in the new crop, starting in May. Thailand’s Prime Minister Pray-út Chan-cha stressed that many new water management projects are being developed to address water shortages in 21 localities that have been declared natural disaster areas due to drought. drought. In areas where rice cultivation is unsuitable, a three-year career transition campaign will be launched to reduce the number of rice fields across the country, to prevent the risk of oversupply, resulting in high prices. rice instability. Besides that,

Experts say that developing new rice varieties and reducing production costs are key for Thai rice to remain attractive to the international market. This requires the Thai Government and farmers to join hands in efforts to support the country’s rice industry.