Thai rice exports from January through mid December decreased 40 % in volume and 25% in value year-on-year, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
The January-November export volume this year reached 6.4 million tonnes valued at Bt135 billion, compared to 10.1 million tonnes at Bt178 billion during the comparable period last year.
The price of Thai rice became higher this year at US$648/tonne, a 16 per cent increase year-on-year. Major Thai rice importers are Nigeria, Iraq, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and Indonesia, respectively.
According to the association, one reason for the reduced rice exports was that buyers ordered rice only for consumption but not to keep for stocks.
Thailand rice exports
| 1 Jan – 18 Dec 2011 | 1 Jan – 18 Dec 2012 | +/- (%) |
| 8,129,198.21 | 4,833,697.19 | -40.54 |
Source: Thai Rice Exporters Association
Also, Thailand now has disadvantages compared to competitors such as India, Pakistan, and particularly Vietnam, which last month lowered its rice price to US$410/tonne, the lowest in the market.
About 500,000 tonnes of rice are forecast to be exported this month alone. (MCOT online news)
Thai Jan-Nov rice exports decrease 37% in volume, 25% in value, year-on-year | MCOT.net
Thailand to lose up to 150 billion baht through government’s rice scheme
Thailand is set to lose up to 150 billion baht per harvest through the government’s scheme of buying rice at inflated prices, the World Bank warned on Wednesday.
While the international development lender predicted the Thai economy would grow a healthy 4.7% this year as it recovers from the 2011 great flooding, the World Bank also said the government would incur huge losses from some of the populist policies that brought it to power in last year’s general election.
It said the “paddy-pledging scheme” had proven to be the most costly and would ring up a bill of 115 billion to 150 billion baht per harvest. Areas of Thailand harvest rice from one to three times per year.
It raised its forecast for Thailand’s economic growth this year from the 4.5% prediction made in May, and said it expected 2013 growth to be 5%.
Under the rice scheme, the government pays 15,000 baht per tonne for plain, white, unhusked rice and 20,000 baht per tonne for Hom Mali, or Jasmine rice. Purchases began in October 2011. This is way above the market price/
The World Bank estimated that the government spent 376 billion baht in purchasing rice in the past fiscal year, which ended Sept 30, 2012 and would spend another 450 billion baht this fiscal year, equivalent to 3.8% of gross domestic product.
The government has accumulated more than 12 million tonnes of rice in warehouses that it has been unable to sell overseas because Thai rice prices are about US$200 dollars per tonne above international market prices.
