Thailand Strengthens Support for Agricultural Products Such as Rice

Since July, downward pressure on the prices of Thai agricultural products such as rice has intensified. Thailand's Ministry of Commerce is implementing a series of measures to boost the market prices of rice and other agricultural products and expand export volumes. The main measures include: first, further increasing production and sales subsidies for rice farmers and expanding the export scale of Thai rice through a series of international promotion activities; second, striving to expand markets in Indonesia, India, and the United Arab Emirates, and promising a 65,000-ton longan export quota to fruit farmers in Chiang Mai; third, cooperating with Thailand's National Telecom, Thai Commercial Bank, and other state-owned enterprises to expand the purchase scale of various Thai agricultural products. In addition, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce has also begun to promote the application of national Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) standards for agricultural products to enhance their competitiveness.

As of July 14, the price of Thai brown rice was 6,400-7,400 baht per ton (approximately 197-228 US dollars), the price of rice with 25% moisture content was 5,200-6,200 baht per ton (approximately 160-191 US dollars), the price of glutinous rice was 10,000-11,000 baht per ton (approximately 308-339 US dollars), and the price of jasmine rice with 15% moisture content was 15,500-16,300 baht per ton (approximately 478-502 US dollars). All these prices were lower than those in the same period last year.