Thailand still world’s top rice exporter

Two years after losing its place as the world’s biggest rice exporter, Thailand is eyeing a return to the top spot as the impact of a bungled subsidy scheme eases and it sells cheaper grain to a grateful global market.
The subsidy, which offered farmers up to 50 percent above market rates for their rice, helped former premier YingluckShinawatra win the rural votes she needed to take office in 2011.
But it also sent tremors through the world market before spectacularly unravelling, leaving Thailand with around 18 million tonnes of over-priced rice and Yingluck skewered by a corruption charge.
Thailand was pushed off the top spot by India in 2012, as buyers hit back at the kingdom’s attempt to fund the costly subsidy by driving up global prices through grain hoarding.
India and Vietnam moved swiftly to gobble up Thailand’s crumbling market share, with the Indian government rapidly releasing more of their own rice for export.
Thailand’s junta, which seized power in May, ended the rice scheme soon after the coup and is flogging stockpiles to soften the price of Thai rice to around $450 a tonne — comparable to India and Vietnam.