Over the past decade, Thailand has lost much of its market share in the rice trade to Vietnam, which has continued to develop its aromatic varieties for sale at a cheaper price.
“Businesses that require a large amount of rice such as restaurants, hotels and hospitals and used to buy fragrant rice from Thailand are now buying it from Vietnam because it’s cheaper and acceptable,” Chookiat of TREA explained.
“I have to say that Vietnamese white rice nowadays is even more beautiful than Thai rice. The grain is slender and soft when cooked. It’s delicious and costs less than ours. This is what we’re worried about.”
A lack of research, genetic development and varietal improvement as well as red tape in the seed registration process has limited Thailand’s capacity to produce high-quality, high-yield rice for the world market, according to Chookiat.
It takes at least three years for one type of rice to be developed and approved by the government for commercialisation.
Moreover, Chookiat said, frequent changes in government and limited support from policymakers for rice species development have adversely affected Thai rice’s performance at the world stage.
“There are a lot of researchers but they lack the capital and inspiration because when they’ve come up with something, it doesn’t always get certified or appreciated,” he told CNA.
Without robust research and development programmes to improve the yield and quality of Thai rice, the TREA president fears Thailand would not be able to compete with other rice exporters and that it would eventually face an oversupply of the crop, followed by a decline in market price.
“Gradually, the rice industry would collapse and the rice export sector would become a sunset industry. This is what we’ve been trying to signal to the government,” he said.
UPPING THE EXPORT TARGET
This year, Thailand has set an export target of 7 mt of rice, which should bring it back to the world’s second top position after India.
The Thai government is working with the private sector and TREA to ameliorate the weaknesses of the rice industry and reposition Thai rice in the global trade. It has also adopted a market-led approach for its rice strategy, which covers a period of five years from 2020 to 2024.
The plan was designed to enhance Thailand’s rice production, cut manufacturing costs by half and promote better farming techniques to increase the average yield from 465 kg of paddy per 0.16 hectares to at least 600 kg.
The strategy is also focused on developing new rice varieties to meet diverse demands in international markets.
By 2024, Thailand aims to develop at least 12 rice varieties for the world market, including jasmine fragrant rice, soft-textured rice, hard-textured rice and high nutrition rice.