BANGKOK – Thailand’s rice exports this year will reach an estimated 5.8 million tons, earning the country some US$3.4 billion, the lowest level in 20 years, industry sources say.

Thailand held the rank of the world’s leading rice exporter for almost four decades before first losing the title in 2012, thanks to a disastrous populist rice price support scheme under then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (2011-2014) that boosted Thai rice prices paid to traders 40% above market prices.