Thailand’s agriculture and food sector is facing a structural shift in global trade, as carbon footprint rapidly replaces price as a key benchmark for international buyers. Industry leaders warn that without urgent national action, Thai agricultural exports risk losing access to premium markets within the next few years.
Speaking at the 2025 annual meeting of Thailand’s Network for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Pornsil Patcharintanakul, president of the Thai Feed Mill Association, said Thailand’s traditional success model in agriculture was built on volume and competitive pricing. That model, he said, no longer reflects the realities of today’s trade environment.
Global buyers are increasingly factoring greenhouse-gas emissions into purchasing decisions, with carbon intensity now shaping contracts, pricing, and long-term supply relationships. In this emerging landscape, agricultural competitiveness is measured not only by output and cost, but by verified environmental performance.
A recent rice export deal highlighted the urgency of the issue. Thailand secured a five-year agreement to supply 100,000 tons of rice to Singapore, but shortly afterward, Vietnam disrupted the market by offering rice bundled with carbon credits.
The move shifted buyer attention away from tonnage and price, underscoring how competitors are already positioning themselves within a low-carbon trade framework.
Industry representatives say the implication is clear. Future buyers may no longer ask how much Thai rice costs, but how much carbon is embedded in each shipment. Without credible answers, Thailand could face immediate exclusion from high-value markets, regardless of supply capacity or pricing.
Thailand’s long and complex agricultural supply chain adds to the challenge. From seed production and farm inputs to drying facilities, feed mills, livestock, processing plants, and export logistics, emissions are generated across every stage. While this complexity has historically been a strength, it is now becoming a vulnerability in the era of carbon accountability.
The most difficult pressure point lies upstream, among smallholder farmers. Efforts by private companies to reduce emissions, such as discouraging crop burning or cutting chemical fertilizer use, often collide with economic realities.
Farmers frequently ask whether environmentally friendly practices will translate into higher income, reflecting concerns about livelihoods rather than resistance to change.
Industry voices argue that regulatory enforcement alone will not work. Without clear financial incentives, compliance-based approaches risk failure. Instead, producers must see tangible economic benefits from adopting low-carbon practices, allowing sustainability to become a competitive advantage rather than a cost burden.
At the center of this transition is data credibility. Thailand cannot rely on general claims or policy statements to market low-carbon food products. What global buyers demand is verifiable, traceable, and internationally recognized carbon data. Producing such data requires advanced monitoring systems, digital traceability, and large-scale data collection.
Some private-sector initiatives are already underway. Companies have partnered with King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi to collect field-level data over multiple years, aiming to verify the carbon footprint of millions of tons of agricultural output. Industry leaders stress that these efforts are costly and cannot be sustained or scaled without broader support.
The absence of coordinated government leadership is seen as the most serious obstacle. While multiple ministries, including agriculture, commerce, industry, and environmental agencies, are involved in related policies, they operate largely in isolation. Stakeholders say Thailand lacks a single national authority or integrated strategy to drive carbon transition across the food sector.
This policy fragmentation has led to misaligned budgets, unclear standards for farmers, and weakened bargaining power in international trade discussions. Without a unified national framework, businesses fear they will be exposed to unilateral trade rules and carbon-based restrictions imposed by importing countries.
Industry stakeholders warn that the window for action is narrowing. If Thailand fails to establish a clear national agenda on carbon footprint soon, the impact could become visible within two years. Key exports, particularly rice, could be excluded from major markets not due to price or supply constraints, but because they lack recognized carbon certification.
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