Despite sluggish global demand and reduced competitiveness, the Commerce Ministry is confident Thailand will be able to export 8.5 million tonnes of rice this year, generating US$5.7 billion (Bt169.4 billion) - 20 per cent higher than was achieved last year.

At a press conference yesterday for the upcoming "Thailand Rice Convention 2013", Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the Kingdom should be able to reach the full-year export target, which represented a 22-per-cent increase over last year's volume.

The convention, to be held from May 26-28 in Chiang Mai, is expected to attract more than 6,000 participants from 40 countries for an exchange of knowledge and views on rice and rice trading. International rice traders, millers and farmers will be among those attending.

Last year, Thailand lost its top spot and slipped to third place among the world's rice-exporting nations with a volume of 6.95 million tonnes, worth $4.76 billion.

To achieve this year's target, the ministry will accelerate the release of rice from the government's stockpiles, focus more on government-to-government contracts and promote premium-rice exports, Boonsong said.

Thailand has shipped 2.1 million tonnes of rice so far this year, with a value of $1.6 billion. Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, has little confidence in the Kingdom achieving a high export volume of rice this year, because of low demand in the world market.

The association projects exports of just 6.5 million tonnes, a full 2 million tonnes below the government's target.

Korbsook said global rice trading had its own life cycle, and the country needed to wait for world demand to increase in the third quarter to see whether the Kingdom's own exports could also rise.

Moreover, she said Thai exporters this year were faced with the additional difficulty of the stronger baht, which has reduced their competitiveness.

Anurak Deesirisathian, export manager of Asia Golden Rice, Thailand's leading rice exporter, said his company expected flat growth in terms of export volume because of low demand in the global market.

"Demand from many major markets such as Nigeria and the Philippines has dropped significantly this year.

"The export volume of each company could therefore fall," he said.

With Asian Golden Rice's export volume having already declined 30 per cent to about 1.2 million tonnes last year; he said the firm had been trying to penetrate new markets such as countries in Eastern Africa. It has also dispatched trade missions to visit customers overseas.

Source: The Nation