Thailand has been outranked by India as the world's largest rice exporter, said Thai Rice Exporters Association head Charoen Laothammathat on Wednesday.
Thailand ranked second on the list of the world's largest rice exporting countries with 9.8 million tons exported to the world market last year, compared to 10.9 million tons the previous year, while India topped the chart with 10.2 million tons and Vietnam was third with 6.4 million tons, according to the association's president.
Last year, Thai rice export earned an estimated 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, compared to 5.4 billion U.S. dollars the previous year, Charoen said.
This year, Thailand is forecast to export about 9 million tons of rice to the world market, earning some 4.3 billion U.S. dollars.
Gross production of extra crops in varied rice-growing areas of the country will likely drop by millions of tons this year, he said.
Droughts in the producing areas and reductions in purchase volumes from African countries in the face of global economic slumps will primarily result in the forecast drop in the export Thai rice, he added.
