The Thai government aims to sell over 2 million tonnes of rice this year on a government-to-government (G-to-G) basis.
But it admits a renewed attempt to sell rice to Iran may hit a snag because of escalating political conflict in the Middle East.
Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Commerce Ministry permanent secretary, said the government has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China for 1 million tonnes.
Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said on Dec 3 the government was expected to sign a deal soon to sell an additional 1 million tonnes of rice to China.
Mrs Apiradi's announcement came after the ministry signed a deal to sell 1 million tonnes of rice to the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation, a Chinese state-owned food conglomerate. The Dec 3 deal was part of a 2-million-tonne lot for which Thailand and China signed a MoU in December 2014.
The rice delivery amounts to 100,000 tonnes a month starting early this year.
In addition, Thailand is in the process of delivering the remaining 100,000 tonnes of rice to China under an earlier deal for 1 million tonnes struck by the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
Ms Chutima said additional interest was expected from Indonesia and the Philippines because of anticipated lower supply from drought conditions.
The ministry set a target of 9 million tonnes of rice shipments this year, worth $4.78 billion. Last year, Thailand was projected to ship 10 million tonnes worth $5.1 billion.
She said the national rice policy committee's meeting chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha late last year endorsed a plan to sell the government's rice stocks on credit.
The commerce and finance ministries were tasked with jointly considering the credit line for potential buyers, particularly for purchases bound for new markets.
The Commerce Ministry reported in late 2015 that since the May 2014 military coup, a combined 8.27 million tonnes had been sold from 18.7 million left over from various rice schemes, fetching 103 billion baht. It sold 4.87 million tonnes via auction, earning 52.6 billion baht, while G-to-G sales tallied 3.4 million tonnes worth 50 billion baht.
Of the rest, 12 million tonnes were categorised as Grade P, which passed ministry certification and is a mix of Grades A and B, or in slightly poor condition and in need of sorting for improvement. Some 6 million tonnes were rated substandard.