The Ministry of Commerce and private firms involved in rice production and export have agreed on a new marketing strategy for the second half of the year, commerce permanent secretary Yanyong Puangraj said.

“The ministry will focus more on increasing the value of exported rice instead of the quantity,” Mr Yanyong said on Wednesday.

The export strategy will be changed because it is projected that the world’s rice output would drop this year, due to the problems of pests and natural disasters in several rice production countries, he said.

Thailand will no longer try to compete with Vietnam in exporting more rice, and will instead compete by exporting rice of higher quality and higher value.

Thailand exported about four million tonnes of rice in the first half of the year. Thai rice was valued nearly 50 per cent higher than rice from Vietnam, according to Mr Yanyong.

He was confident that the country would be able to export 8.5 million tonnes of rice, as targeted, this year.
To achieve the goal under the new strategy, the ministry had set up four sub-working committees on rice standards, marketing promotion, rice information and marketing strategy.

Source: Bangkok Post