Thailand's rice exports to reach 7.5 billion tons this year

Thailand's rice exports are likely to reach 7.5 million tons this year, earning the country around 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Thai Commerce Ministry.

Rachane Potjanasuntorn, Director-General of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Foreign Trade, was quoted by the web edition of local newspaper Bangkok Post on Saturday as saying that the country's targeted rice exports this year would be around 200, 000 tons higher than the kingdom's total rice exports last year.

He said Thailand had exported 1.87 million tons of rice from January 1-April 5, 2006, worth around 595 million U.S. dollars.

The average price of exported Thai rice is anticipated about 318 U.S. dollars per ton, Rachane said.

Vietnam, Thailand's main rival as a rice exporter, has set to export about 5 million tons of rice this year.

Source: Xinhua