Export of Thai Hom Mali (fragrant) rice for the year 2019 is expected to fall by about 20 percent to roughly one million tonnes from this year’s 1.2-1.3 million tonnes as foreign buyers have increasingly shifted to similar grains from Vietnam and Cambodia which are cheaper.
Chukiart Opaswong, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said Wednesday that the prices of Hom Mali rice from Cambodia and Vietnam were more competitive than that of Thailand, with the price of the same grains from Cambodia about US$200/tonne cheaper than Thailand’s US$1,100 per tonne.
He noted that Vietnamese fragrant rice was far more cheaper — almost one third of that of Thai rice.
During the first 11 months of this year, Hong Kong imported a total of 278,000 tonnes of fragrant rice from different sources – down 2.45 percent from 285,000 tonnes of the same period last year. Thai rice exports to Hong Kong this year totaled 153,000 tonnes – down by 18.2 percent from last year’s 188,000 tonnes.
During the first 11 months this year, Hong Kong imported 68,600 tonnes of rice from Vietnam – up 48.5 percent from the same period last year – including 61,000 tonnes of fragrant grains.
