Trump tariffs threaten to pile more pain on Thailand's rice sector

NAKHON PATHOM, Thailand, April 23 (Reuters) - Thai farmer Daeng Donsingha was already worried for her family of nine when rice prices in the world's second-largest exporter of the staple crashed this year after India resumed exports.

Now, she's also fretting over the tariffs unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which could slash demand for Thai rice in its most valuable foreign market and create turmoil in an export industry worth billions of dollars.

"The problem is that the price of rice is very low, while other costs such as fertilisers and farmland rent is higher," the 70-year-old farmer said, after selling her harvest at a rice mill in central Thailand. "I'm losing money."

Thailand is among Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by Trump's proposed measures, facing a 36% tariff on goods unless ongoing negotiations are successful before the U.S president's moratorium on the tariffs ends in July.

"If the U.S. imposes the tariff, our jasmine rice will be too expensive to compete," said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

Last year, Thailand shipped 849,000 metric tones of rice to the United States, mainly of its most expensive fragrant jasmine variety, worth 28.03 billion baht ($735 million), according to the association.

In all, Thailand exported 9.94 million tons of rice in 2024, worth 225.65 billion baht ($6.82 billion), with the U.S. as its third-largest market by volume, but most lucrative.

Potential U.S. tariffs would stall expo...
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