BANGKOK, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's rice export volume surged 75.2 percent in January from a year earlier to 805,519 tonnes, boosted by a weak Thai baht and year-end orders, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday.
The country's rice export in January was valued at 14.28 billion baht (about 407 million U.S. dollars), up 78.76 percent year-on-year, Ronnarong Phoolpipat, director general of the ministry's foreign trade department, told a news conference.
Given higher demand from some Middle East countries, Thailand's rice export to the region rose to 2.3 million tonnes in 2022 from only 630,000 tonnes in 2021, Ronnarong said.
However, he expressed concerns over a strengthening baht since this year, which he said might cause the Thai rice export to be less competitive.
The ministry maintained its annual rice export target of 7.5 million tonnes for this year.
As one of the world's major rice exporters, Thailand exported 7.69 million tonnes of rice last year, beating its annual target of 7.5 million tonnes, with the top markets including Iraq, South Africa and China. ■