Traders from Iraq and Iran will also be invited to visit Thailand in order to restore their confidence to buy Thai rice after suspending its import for many years. They will be allowed to inspect rice plantations and mills here.
Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said countries to be visited soon included Malaysia and Indonesia, which are major rice importers. The ministry will also join the Philippines’ tender for 250,000 tonnes of rice, which is to open soon.
She said that although the main harvest season had started, the market price for rice had not dropped much. China’s recent agreement to import 100,000 tonnes of Thai rice under a government-to-government project and the Philippines’ purchase of 100,000 tonnes under a previous tender showed that overseas markets still had high demand for rice.
She said the current price of paddy rice was about Bt8,000 per tonne. Prices of domestic rice should not fall much as some have feared.
Besides setting up overseas missions, the ministry will invite international rice traders to visit Thailand in order to boost export opportunities.
The ministry is scheduled to conduct a business-matching event for Thai traders and international rice buyers next month. International traders that have confirmed they will join the event are from Japan, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and the Philippines.
To promote rice sales and encourage innovation in the rice industry, the government will host a “Thailand Rice Convention” from May 28-30 next year.
The ministry has reported that the price of 5 per cent white Thai rice is currently US$372 per tonne, while Vietnamese rice is $348 and Indian rice $350 per tonne.
The government has 8.4 million tonnes of rice remaining in its stockpiles.
From January 1 to October 18, Thai rice export increased by 8.1 per cent in volume to 7.9 million tonnes, while value rose 8.4 per cent year on year to Bt126.73 billion.