New Thai rice breeds needed to compete globally, says exporters chief

The association’s president, Charoen Laothamatas, said on Friday that in his 40 years in the rice industry, he has not seen Thailand develop any new rice breeds to penetrate the global market.

“India and Vietnam have surpassed us with better quality of rice thanks to continuous breed improvement. The only valid strategy we have now is reducing our price to attract buyers,” he said.

Charoen also pointed out that nearly all governments in the past three decades have only focused on the price of rice, but never on the improvement of output and quality, which are key obstacles for export.

“We tend to set our prices too high compared to the quality of our rice, which is something that should not be done in a free market. This is one of the reasons why our rice export volume has dropped continuously,” he added.

“What we need to do now is develop new breeds of rice that suit the market’s demand, as well as fix the law to facilitate the certification of new rice breeds for commercial purposes.

“Many new breeds have been discovered or developed by universities and institutes, but lack proper development and support to make them viable for mass production and export,” he added.

Charoen said establishing a “Rice Board” will help speed up this endeavour, especially if it comprises representatives of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, Thai Rice Packers Association, Thai Rice Mill Association and Thai Seed Trade Association. He said the board members can then come up with policies that benefit all related parties in both the long and short term.

“The government should make the setting up of a ‘Rice Board’ part of its national agenda, so it can take place as soon as possible and coordinate seamlessly when the government changes,” he said. “Developing a new rice breed will take at least three years, so we need to act now if we want to see tangible changes in the rice industry.”