Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam are exploring possibilities to improve the image and quality of rice from the region and to expand investment opportunities for rice growers.

Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, which together control 45% of the global rice trade, held a meeting held last week in Hanoi that focused on bio-safety issues in rice production and the use of non-genetically modified rice.

Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter, with an export target of 8.5 million MT this year, up from 7.5 million MT exported last year. It is followed by Vietnam, which plans to export about 5 million MT of rice in 2007, compared with exports of 4.5 million MT in 2006.
 
Cambodia and Burma export about 300,000 and 100,000 MT per year respectively.