The Chairman of agriculture and food board under the Thai Chamber of Commerce has expressed concern for Thailand's competitiveness in food export, which may be affected by the strength of the Thai baht.

Meanwhile, the National Food Institute is confident that food exports will reach 830 billion baht in value as predicted.

Pornsilpa Patcharintanakul, the chairman of the Agriculture and Food Board under the Thai Chamber of Commerce said exporters should seek risk management tools, as the Thai baht has climbed to new records in the past 26 months, at 31.44 baht per U.S. dollar.

However, he is confident the country’s competitiveness is on the same par with those of other countries within the same region, except for Vietnam, which may have an advantage over Thailand after the value of the Dong dropped by 8 to 10 percent.

The President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, Chukiat Opaswong, said rice exports over the past seven months has dropped by 9 percent in volume, down from 5.5 million tons.

He is confident that the annual volume of rice exports will reach 8.5 million tons as Vietnam, which is a main competitor in rice export, is experiencing inadequate supply for exports.

Moreover, the price of Thai rice has have been lowered to be on the same par with Vietnamese rice.

National Food Institute (NFI) Executive Vice President Amorn Ngammongkolrat said Thai food export has been on the rise during the first and the second quarters of this year.

However, the growth rate in the industry in the second quarter is smaller than that of the first quarter.

There have been declines in the export of fish, frozen and processed seafood, as well as fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, due to low supply.

He expects food exports to slow down in the second half of this year compared to the first half, due to economic uncertainty of major buyers like the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

The other risk factors are appreciation of the Thai baht and climatic change, which causes the supply of agricultural products in Thailand and the world to drop.

However, he remains confident that the food export industry will grow by 10 percent, to reach 830 billion baht in value.

Four major markets of Thai food export are the Southeast Asian countries, Japan, the U.S. and the EU. Exports to these markets make up 60 percent of the total value of food export.

This year, food exports to Southeast Asian countries increased the most, by 22.5 percent. Export to Japan increased by 14.1 percent, to the U.S. by 12.7 percent, and to the EU by 11.8 percent.

Most exports are agricultural products and raw materials. Processed products make up a small share in the total food export market.

Source: TANN