Soaring global demand for rice pushes Thailand closer to 2nd place
Thailand is on track to becoming the world’s second-largest rice exporter after its shipments in the first 11 months of last year rose to 6.91 million tonnes.
This surpassed the 6.67 million tonnes exported by Vietnam, which held second place in 2021, the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA) said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, India is still the top rice exporter after having shipped 18.25 million tonnes from January to November last year.
“We are confident that total exports in 2022 will exceed the target of 7.5 million tonnes thanks to surging demand from Iraq, China and the United States during the New Year holidays,” TREA president Charoen Laothamatas said.
He added that the 6.91 million tonnes of rice exported in the 11 months of 2022 marked a 26.8% increase year on year, with sales revenue rising 29.2% year on year at 123.51 billion baht.
In November, Thailand exported 706,270 tonnes of rice, down by 11.1% from the previous month, but revenue rose by 2.6% to 14.3 billion baht.
Other importers of Thai rice include Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Angola, Mozambique, the Philippines, Cameroon, South Africa, Yemen and Benin.
TREA expects rice exports in December to be recorded at around 800,000 tonnes as sellers are looking to replenish their stock that has been depleted over the holidays. This would push Thailand’s total rice exports in 2022 beyond the association’s target to around 7.71 million tonnes.
