Demand for Thai rice in the international market remains strong, with Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit expecting the country's exports to potentially increase to 8 million tonnes this year.
Speaking after a discussion with the Thai Rice Exporters Association, Mr Jurin said on Monday that the weak baht, increased stocks for domestic consumption in India and Vietnam, and growing demand in the Middle East are the key factors that will help boost the Thai rice export outlook this year.
The Foreign Trade Department on Monday reported that Thai rice exports rose 75.2% year-on-year in January to 805,519 tonnes, driven by year-end orders, higher demand from the Middle East, and the weakness of the baht.
The value of rice exports, meanwhile, rose by 78.7% from January last year to 14.2 billion baht.
Ronnarong Phoolpipat, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said the weakened baht, which made Thai rice prices competitive, helped accelerate year-end purchase orders, while orders from many countries such as Iraq, Indonesia and Bangladesh had significantly increased in January.
However, Mr Ronnarong said his department was sticking to the rice export target of 7.5 million tonnes this year as it wanted to monitor the baht before deciding whether to revise the target.
"The baht's prospects are vital to the country's rice exports this year. Thai rice exports will become competitive in the world market if the baht is weakened," he said.
The baht has weakened again, by 1.5% against the US dollar so far this year, making it Asia's third-worst performing currency.
Last year, Thailand shipped 7.69 million tonnes of rice, outperforming the Commerce Ministry's target of 7.5 million tonnes.
Export volumes increased by 22% from 6.3 million tonnes shipped in 2021, while the value in baht terms rose by 25.1% to 138 billion baht.
Meanwhile, the export value in dollar terms rose by 14.6% from a year before to US$3.97 billion.
Last year, Thailand was ranked the world's second-largest rice exporter after India, which exported 21.9 million tonnes.
Vietnam was third, with rice exports of 6.31 million tonnes.
Iraq was the largest importer of Thai rice, buying 1.6 million tonnes last year, up 458% from a year before. South Africa came second, importing 775,000 tonnes (down 2.26%), followed by China at 750,000 tonnes (up 18.8%), the US at 650,000 tonnes (up 13.2%) and Benin at 321,000 tonnes (down 15.3%).
