An award ceremony was organized in the United Arab Emirates by the United States Rice Traders Association In which Thailand’s Famous Home Mali Rice won the Best Rice Award.
Eleven types of rice from Thailand, USA, China, India, Vietnam and Myanmar were nominated this year at the award ceremony.
Giving information, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said that Thailand’s Home Mali Rice, also known as Jasmine Rice, has won this award for the second time.
“Thailand winning the title of world’s best rice is proof that Thailand is continuously improving the quality of rice,” Jurin said.
This victory is not a single one but a common achievement of farmers, agricultural associations, exporters and government agencies, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation and the Ministry of Commerce. Today this achievement is the result of everyone’s hard work.
“We expect rice exports to cross the target of 6 million tonnes this year,” he said. “Exports are expected to increase by 7 to 7.5 million tonnes by next year after which Thailand could become the world’s second largest rice exporter after India and ahead of Vietnam, which currently ranks second.”
Meanwhile, Thai Rice Exporters Association president Charoen Laothammatus said Thailand needed to develop better and cheaper jasmine rice, so that it could surpass Vietnam. Vietnam currently exports 2.5 million tonnes more jasmine rice than Thailand.