As one of its strategies to release rice from the government stockpiles, the Commerce Ministry is participating in two giant international exhibitions this month to promote the sale of Thai rice overseas.

Pranee Siriphand, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said her agency would lead rice traders to meet directly with international buyers and consumers at the fairs. Participating in the events will ensure that Thai rice gets more recognition among foreign consumers, as well as create new trading channels for the commodity.

The first exhibition is the four-day BioFach 2013 in Germany, which began yesterday. The other one is Gulfood 2013, an international food and beverage trade fair to be held in the United Arab Emirates from February 25-28.

Pranee said Thailand would focus on promoting organic rice and rice products at BioFach to penetrate to the high-value and highly health-conscious markets in Germany and elsewhere in the European Union. At the fair, Thai exporters will have a chance to meet with importers and consumers.

Last year, Thailand exported 3,200 tonnes of organic jasmine rice to the EU. That market accounted for 76 per cent of the Kingdom's export volume of this kind of rice.

Pranee said Thailand had a wider opportunity to export rice to Europe, where there is a rising number of Asian residents with high purchasing power. The selling price of organic jasmine rice is double that of other general markets. Export of Thai rice to the EU is expected to increase by 10-15 per cent this year.

At Gulfood 2013, Thailand will promote regular and organic jasmine rice and varieties that have qualified for Geographical Indication offering high nutrition.

Pranee said Middle Eastern consumers had high purchasing power, and Gulfood would be a good showcase to promote Thai rice in that region.

The Middle East has high demand for rice. Thailand, Vietnam, India and Pakistan are its major rice suppliers. Thailand exports about 1.22 million tonnes of rice per year to that market, including jasmine, white and parboiled rice.

Source: The Nation