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Top1. Introduction
Thailand has been a renowned agricultural country for a long time. More than half of the country’s population is employed in agriculture. Consequently, Thailand’s agricultural industry is critical to the economy and society, as it is a major source of national revenue. Rice is not only a staple diet for Thai people but also an important export crop for Thailand, which is now the world’s fastest-growing rice producer and the epicenter of rice research (Thai Rice Exporters Association, 2022). Thailand exported abundant rice in one year, earning hundreds of billions of baht in revenue. Thai rice exports include paddy, jasmine, non-glutinous rice, and sticky rice. During 2019–2021, Thai rice production expanded slightly because of attractive prices, causing farmers to expand their planted area and add more planting cycles, even under drought conditions that could reduce production in 2019. Export volumes were likely to decline at the end of this period. The trading partners demand that the discharge of old rice in the government’s stockpile should be accelerated while the export price is still reasonable because of the high quality of exported Thai rice. However, global rice stocks continue to increase because of export price support. Overall, the rice export value is expected to increase (Sowcharoensuk, 2019). However, from January to June 2020, compared to the previous year (January–June 2019), rice exports totaled 2,885,536 tons, a decrease of -33.78% from 2019, or US$1,963.05 million, a decrease of -14.10% from 2019. Thailand's main competitors in rice exports are Vietnam, the United States, and Australia (Ministry of Commerce, 2021).
Thailand’s agricultural sector is highly competitive, and the manufacturing sector mainly drives its economy for exports. Therefore, exports play an important role in generating income. However, the political, economic, and business management mechanisms related to the rice trade in Thailand are complicated. Thai rice exports also face natural disasters such as frequent droughts and increasing global rice production, with competing countries developing better rice varieties. This causes Thailand to lose more share in the world rice market, while its main competitors, Vietnam and India, can still maintain or increase their export market share. In 2020, Thailand’s rice exports dropped by 25% compared to the previous year, whereas Vietnam’s rice exports decreased by only 2%. Despite banning rice exports from maintaining the domestic rice supply during the COVID-19 pandemic, India increased its exports by more than 40% owing to higher yields. This reduced the competitiveness of Thai rice in the world market; Thai rice exports fell from No. 1 to No. 3. Wangvanichpan et al. (2016) discussed the major problem of Thai rice losing market share due to low productivity and high costs, making it unable to compete on price. In addition, exporters focus on short-term price competition. However, competitors have improved rice quality and production, causing Thailand’s advantages to decline.