The Commerce Ministry of Thailand is now strongly determined to maintain Thailand's position as the world's top rice exporter with China becoming a key export destination, the official Thai News Agency (TNA) reported on Tuesday.

Krirkkrai Jirapaet, Thai Commerce Minister who recently led a team of 16 rice exporters to China's Guangdong province to meet Chinese rice importers, said China is one of Thailand's major rice export destinations.

Thailand's rice export to China totaled 600,000-700,000 MT each year, half of which is fragrant jasmine rice.

He was quoted as saying that the government had a policy to keep Thailand's position as the world's top rice exporter. Last year, the total rice exports rose to 7.5 million MT and are expected to surge to 8.5 million MT this year.