Rice Prices Likely to Rise in Global Market Next YearRice prices in the world market, which had dropped this year due to fierce competition, are expected to rise again next year as many exporting countries had experienced natural disaster, the Thai News Agency(TNA) said Monday.The country's rice export volume in the first seven months of this year increased by 10 percent from that of the same period the previous year, said the report. However, the export value had fallen because rice exporter countries had competed ferociously by adopting a price-cutting strategy, it added. Still, the rice prices are projected to edge up next year because several exporter countries have suffered from natural disaster. A report of the Commerce Ministry was quoted as saying that the Thai rice had been in greater demand by Middle East and African countries in the past week, resulting in high prices in the crop. It said the rice exports increased to 511,000 tons during August 1-23, compared with 365,000 tons in the corresponding period the year before. The rice exports also edged up to 4.2 million tons during January 1-August 23 from 3.73 million tons the same period last year. Currently, paddy rice prices are between 3,600(80 U.S.dollars) and 5,100 baht(113.33 U.S.dollars) a ton. |
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