Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is confident Thailand will reclaim its status as the world's largest rice exporter next year.
Readings of the robes
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signs copies of a book distributed to members of the public and published by the PM’s Office about the royally sponsored robe-offering ceremony held after Buddhist Lent at Wat Ratchanatda in Bangkok. (Photo by Seksan Rojjanametakun)
He also suggests small paddy fields be integrated and resources pooled.
Gen Prayut said Monday Thailand has now regained its status as the top rice exporter in Asean, and the country has a chance of reclaiming its top position for global rice exports.
He estimated Thailand would export 11 million tonnes of rice this year, compared with 9 million tonnes last year.
According to the Commerce Ministry, in the first nine months of this year, Thailand exported 8.38 million tonnes of rice, up 70% from the same period last year, worth 130.5 billion baht, a 29.8% surge.
Gen Prayut said the country will still produce sufficient rice for its own consumption next year, though the rice yield might drop slightly due to limited reserves of water that might prevent a second rice crop.
The prime minister said the government was promoting the cultivation of quality rice, including jasmine and glutinous rice.
Thailand lost its world's No.1 rice exporter status in 2012 to India while Vietnam was in second place.
Gen Prayut said Thailand had lost its global rice-exporting lead due to competition from other rice-exporting countries which had lower production costs, adding that the country needed to urgently lower its rice-production costs.
The prime minister suggested small paddy fields should be combined into large fields and machinery and equipment should be pooled and shared as small farmers naturally bear higher costs.
Industry analysts, however, have noted that the actual reason Thailand lost its crown was because of the previous government's failed rice-pledging scheme, which attempted to manipulate the international rice market by withholding stocks to drive up prices. Competing nations took steps to boost supply at lower prices.
Gen Prayut also said the government was investigating the accounting of the government's rice stocks of 18 million tonnes, expected to be finished this month.
He said that during the investigation, the government will discuss with its legal team whether the rice stocks can be sold. If not, the government will have to shoulder the rice storage warehouse costs of about 2 billion baht a month, Gen Prayut said.
Chukiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said information in September showed that Thailand had already reclaimed its top global rice-exporting status, exporting about 8.4 million tonnes of rice in the first nine months of this year.
India came second, exporting about 7.5 million tonnes and Vietnam was in third place, exporting 6.2 million tonnes, he said.
Mr Chukiat said a total export amount of 11 million tonnes would be possible if the country exported about one million tonnes a month in the remainder of the year.
He said the increase in Thai rice exports is because the country's rice prices have dropped to near those of competitors, particularly when compared with the prices during the last government which introduced the rice-pledging scheme.
If the government want to sustain the rice export amount next year, it must not implement any subsidy projects to push up prices, he said, adding that he believed the current price for paddy at 8,500 baht per tonne is competitive for exports.
He said the outlook for the country's rice exports next year will remain positive if rice stocks are released continually, because Thailand retains its market share of old rice exports to Africa where the price of Thailand's old rice is lower than that of Vietnam.
Rawee Rungruang, chairman of the Thai Farmers Network, voiced support for the move to reclaim Thailand's global top rice exporter status, although he said the country still lacks a clear strategy to improve the quality of rice or to come up with a sustainable solution to its rice industry problems.
He said the government should tackle the rice woes as a national priority and set up a committee comprising farmers, rice milling operators, exporters, and consumers to provide information to farmers.
To be the world's top rice exporter, Mr Rawee said farmers must first know which rice strains they should grow for sale.
Mr Rawee said the idea to combine small paddy fields and pool resources has actually been adopted by more than 2,000 community rice centres nationwide but the problems are a lack of efficient management and personnel.