Thailand set a target for rice exports of 7-7.5 million tonnes next year, up from an estimated 6  million tonnes this year, helped by sufficient water supply and a weak baht, making Thai  grains more competitive. Speaking after a discussion with senior Commerce Ministry officials, Charoen Laothammatas,  president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said ample water supply and a weakened  baht, now averaging 33 to the US dollar, are expected to prop up rice exports in the year to  come. The baht's weakness has made Thai rice export prices more competitive, with the free-onboard prices of 5% white rice now quoted at US$390 per tonne, lower than the Vietnamese  price of $405 per tonne. Yet Mr Charoen said container shortages and a lack of shipping space are expected to remain  key risk factors, likely to persist until the first half of 2022. He said Thailand is expected to finish the year with rice exports of 6-6.3 million tonnes,  slightly over the 5.72 million tonnes shipped last year. In 2021, Thailand is projected to remain the world's third largest rice exporter, following India  and Vietnam. "To upgrade Thailand's ranking in the world rice export market, the country desperately needs  to speed up developing Thai rice varieties," said Mr Charoen. "Thailand also has to develop new varieties of fragrant rice and promote them vigourously to  compete with other producers." Thailand has limited the supply of rice varieties to serve customer demand, especially softtextured white rice. Thai rice production is expected to increase in the 2021/2022 harvest season, with milled rice  production estimated at 20 million tonnes because of plentiful water supplies, up from 17  million tonnes in the 2020/2021 season. Thailand's rice productivity averages 450 kilogrammes per rai, significantly lower than  Vietnam's at 900kg per rai and India's at 800kg. Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, recently  said rice export volume is likely to gradually drop if Thailand fails to improve Thai rice  varieties to meet customer demand, such as offering soft-textured rice, and ignores improving  productivity. "We haven't tackled the problems at their root, focusing instead largely on price support,  either via rice pledging or price guarantee schemes. Vietnam focuses on R&D to strengthen  its rice industry," he said. Thailand is also hampered by red tape and lacks the will to upgrade the rice industry, said Mr  Chookiat, who is also the managing director of Huay Chuan Group, once Thailand's leading  rice exporter.