The Thai government is accelerating tapioca exports, while expanding both old and new markets, in order to increase the value of Thai tapioca products and enable farmers to get better prices.

Speaking on 12 January 2025, Deputy Government Spokesperson Anukool Pruksanusak referred to the recent visit to Shanghai and Chengdu by a Thai delegation, led by the Department of Foreign Trade, to discuss exports of Thai tapioca products to China.

During the visit from 5 to 9 January, the Thai delegation, comprising representatives from the public and private sectors, received a positive response from China. Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), under which China would buy 440,000 tons of tapioca, valued at 5.3 billion baht, from Thailand.

From January to November 2024, Thailand exported about 3.87 million tons of tapioca, worth 53.3 billion baht, to the Chinese market. Out of the amount, 36.7 billion baht involved tapioca starch,16.39 billion baht tapioca chips and pellets, and 228 million baht other tapioca products.

Apart from signing the MOU, Thai and Chinese tapioca traders also joined a business marching event, and discussions were held on opportunities to produce animal feed in China by using tapioca products from Thailand. Both countries also discussed ways to promote the use of Thai tapioca in the Chinese animal feed industry in the long run.

Tapioca is one of Thailand’s major cash crops. Minister of Commerce Pichai Naripthaphan has instructed the Department of Internal Trade and the Department of Foreign Trade to closely monitor the tapioca situation and join hands in solving the price problem faced by tapioca growers.

The Deputy Government Spokesperson said that the Government would continue to expand Thai tapioca export markets and implement various measures to facilitate trade negotiations in order to export more tapioca products.

He pointed out that Thailand has been well-known for the quality of its tapioca, which also has high nutritional value and can be used as an effective raw material in the animal feed industry.