Back as the No 1 rice exporter in the world, Thailand will export a record 11 million tonnes of rice during 2015 due in part to higher demand from Indonesia, whose population is growing more rapidly than rice production, said the Agriculture Department in its monthly Rice Outlook report. Indonesia, the fourth-most populous nation, is No 3 in rice production and consumption. The country consumes all of its crop, forecast at 36.5 million tonnes in 2015, and would import an additional 1.3 milion tonnes.
“Thailand was the largest rice exporter from the early 1980s until 2012, when India overtook it, largely due to Thailand’s paddy purchase program that made Thailand uncompetitive in most global markets,” said USDA. With the end of the purchase program in May, Thailand edged ahead of India this year, 10.3 million tonnes of exports vs 10 million tonnes by India, and easily would exceed India’s forecast 8.7 million tonnes of exports in 2015.