Various brands of rice for sale in a supermarket in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand has set a target of rice exports of 7-7.5 million tonnes next year, up from anestimated 6 million tonnes this year, helped by sufficient water supply and aweak baht, making Thai grains more competitive.

Speaking after a discussionwith senior Commerce Ministry officials, Charoen Laothammatas, president of theThai Rice Exporters Association, said in 2021, Thailand is projected to remainthe world’s third-largest rice exporters, followed by India and Vietnam,Bangkok Post reported.

It is expected to finish theyear with rice exports of 6-6.3 million tonnes, slightly higher than 5.72 tonnes last year. Thai rice production isexpected to increase in the 2021/2022 harvest season, with milled riceproduction estimated at 20 million tonnes due to plentiful water supplies, upfrom 17 million tonnes in the 2020-2021 season.

Abundantwater supplies and a weaker baht are expected to boost Thailand's rice exportsnext year, according to Charoen. The baht’s weakness has made Thai rice exportprices more competitive, with the free-on-board prices of 5 percent white rice nowoffered at 390 USD per tonne, lower than 405 USD per ton of Vietnam.

However, he said container shortages and a lack of shipping space areexpected to remain key risk factors, likely to persist until the first half of2022.

To upgrade Thailand's rankingin the world rice export market, it is a must for the country to speed updeveloping Thai rice varieties, Charoen said adding that Thailand also has to develop newvarieties of fragrant rice and promote them vigorously to compete with otherproducers.

ꦑ Thailand has limited thesupply of rice varieties to serve customer demand, especially soft-texturedwhite rice.

Chookiat Ophaswongse,honourary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, recently said riceexport volume is likely to gradually drop if Thailand fails to improve Thairice varieties to meet customer demand, such as offering soft-textured rice and ignores improving productivity.

Thailand's average riceproductivity is 450 kilogrammes per rai which equals to 0.16ha, significantlylower than Vietnam's at 900kg per rai and India's at 800kg.

♌ He said Thailand hasn’ttackled the problems at their root, focusing instead largely on price support,either via rice pledging or price guarantee schemes. Vietnam focuses on R&Dto strengthen its rice industry./.