Have previously blogged on rice exports, but this article in Business Monitor has some interesting statistics on rice exports and production in Thailand. Key excerpt:

The world’s top rice exporter, Thailand exported 10 million tons (MT) of rice in 2008, or 33.8 percent of the world’s total of 29.6 MT. It is followed by Vietnam (4.6 MT, or 11.5 percent), other countries (4.5 MT, or 15.5 percent), India (3.3 MT, or 11.2 percent), the US (3.2 MT, or 10.8 percent), Pakistan (3 MT, or 10.1 percent) and China (0.9 MT, or 3 percent), he said in his presentation in the media seminar.
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Agriculture accounted for 11.58 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2008; of this share of agriculture, 17.5 percent came from rice, he said.

Rice is planted in Thailand’s 10.2 million hectares of land, or 50 percent of the total 21-million hectare agricultural area.

BP: Should note that Indian rice production has been hit by monsoon and some believe next year that India will become a net importer. Thailand has plenty of supply and will likely benefit from shortfalls elsewhere in the world. Will the price go up again like last year?