Thailand is on track to overtake Vietnam as the world’s second-largest rice exporter, according to Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA).
India is the current top exporter of the grain, exporting some 17.06 million tonnes of rice in the first ten months of this year, while Thailand managed to export some 6.02 million tonnes.
Vietnam, which was the world’s second-largest exporter last year, was knocked down to third place with 6.01 million tonnes, while Pakistan and the United States took fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Iraq, South Africa, the United States, China, and Benin imported the most rice this year, according to the report.
TREA said that in October, Thailand exported 0.79 million tonnes of rice worth 13.97 billion baht, up 24.7% and 20.5% from the previous month, respectively.
It projects exports in November of 0.8 million tonnes, rising higher in December due to demand during the Christmas and New Year holidays. TREA is confident that Thailand’s total rice exports this year will hit the target of 7.5 million tonnes, significantly higher than last year’s total of 6.12 million tonnes.
Thailand exports mainly to Iraq, South Africa, the US, China, Benin, Japan, Senegal and Angola.
Laos sits around 40th place among global rice-exporting nations.
