BANGKOK, June 5 (Reuters): The Thai Rice Exporters Association said on Wednesday it expected the country to export 9 million tonnes of rice in 2014, up from its forecast of 7.5 million tonnes made early this year.
"It is because the current Thai government doesn't have any intervention programme and that allows the market mechanisms to work freely. As a result, Thai rice prices have gone lower than those of competitors," Charoen Laothamatas, president of the association, told Reuters.
Thailand exported 6.6 million tonnes in 2013, down from 6.9 million tonnes in 2012, when the country lost its crown as the world's biggest rice exporter to India.
Exports slumped after the government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra started buying rice from farmers at a price way above the market level from October 2011, which made export prices uncompetitive.
Thai exporters raise 2014 rice export forecast to 9m tones
FE Team | Published: June 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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