Cassava: The Thai Export That Ranks 1 Globally is Earning Less Money /By Longtunman
Did you know that each year, Thailand exports cassava worth around 100 billion baht? However, that figure is currently on a steady decline.
2023: Export value of 127,000 million baht
2024: Export value of 110,000 million baht
2025: Export value of 95,000 million baht
In just two years, the export value of cassava has plummeted by 32,000 million baht.
What’s even more striking is the volume. In 2025, the export volume stood at approximately 8.2 million tons, compared to about 6.5 million tons in 2024.
This means we are exporting more cassava but bringing less money into the country.
Why is this happening? Why is Thailand exporting more but earning less?
Longtunman will explain.
Cassava might seem like a distant topic for many, as we are often more familiar with potatoes used for French fries in restaurant chains.
However, cassava is actually closer to our daily lives than we realize. The basil chicken you eat likely came from a chicken raised on animal feed made from cassava. Moreover, paper, cosmetics, and even medicines almost all utilize raw materials derived from this crop.
To make animal feed, cassava is chopped into pieces and dried, becoming cassava chips. If these are further compressed, they become cassava pellets.
A more complex process results in modified starch. This involves taking raw cassava starch and putting it through chemical processes for use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
So, when Thai farmers produce cassava, the harvest is processed either into low-value chips and pellets or into higher-value modified starch. If cassava can be processed in so many ways, why is the national income from it falling?
The answer is that we focus on processing cassava into low-value-added products while facing intense price competition from our neighbors.
Over 56% of Thailand's cassava export value comes from cassava starch, chips, and pellets—processed products that do not command high prices.
To put this in perspective, look at the average export prices per ton last year:
- Cassava pellets and chips: Average price of 6,250 baht per ton.
- Native cassava starch: Average price of 13,571 baht per ton.
- Modified starch: Average price of 28,000 baht per ton.
These figures show that more than half of Thai cassava exports are low-priced products. Modified starch, which sells for a much higher price, accounts for only about 29% of total exports.
This wouldn't be as much of a problem if our exports were diversified, but currently, cassava chips, pellets, and native starch rely heavily on the Chinese market.
For decades, Thailand held almost the entire market share in China. However, in the last 2-3 years, we have been losing ground to Vietnam. Vietnam can export cassava at a lower price than Thailand due to the depreciation of the Dong, further fueling a price war that hurts Thai exports.
To make matters worse, China, which used to be our primary importer, has invested in planting cassava and building starch factories in Laos. It’s not just China; Vietnam has also invested in Laos to export back to China.
Within China itself, there is a push to replace cassava chips with ethanol extracted from coal for fuel, or shifting toward domestic corn production for animal feed.
Facing lower imports from China, increased Chinese self-sufficiency via Laos, and fierce price wars, the export price of Thai cassava has been forced down. Even as Thailand exports more volume, the total revenue continues to shrink.
In 2025, Thailand exported 2 million tons more of chips and pellets than in 2024, yet the total income increased by only 8 billion baht. Meanwhile, native starch—which has a higher price—saw export volumes drop by 400,000 tons in 2025, causing a significant loss in total value.
This raises the question: Why don't we just export more modified starch to offset the losses in other areas?
The truth is that modified starch requires sophisticated technology and complex chemical processes. It requires extensive Research and Development (R&D) to meet specific customer requirements. Additionally, production involves managing large amounts of wastewater and factory waste, which comes with high costs—even if the selling price is high.
While Thailand has over 1,157 cassava processing plants, only large companies can afford the high costs of producing modified starch. Examples include:
- Thai Wah Public Company Limited, with nearly 10,000 million baht in annual revenue.
- Sanguan Wongse Starch Co., Ltd., which earned nearly 5,000 million baht in 2024.
- Premier Quality Starch Public Company Limited, which is also aiming to increase its modified starch production.
When processing doesn't reach high enough value, the impact hits the farmers at the start of the chain. There are over 500,000 cassava-farming households in Thailand, mostly in the Northeast.
Last year, the price of mixed cassava was around 1.7 baht per kilogram, while the cost of production stood at 2.13 baht per kilogram. This means farmers are selling at a loss of 0.43 baht for every kilogram produced.
With an average yield of about 3.1 tons per rai, a farmer loses roughly 1,300 baht per rai.
How do we solve this?
The answer lies in the selling price for farmers. If the end-value of processed cassava increases, the buying price from farmers will rise accordingly. This could involve expanding modified starch production or creating other products like gluten-free cassava flour for healthy bakeries.
Additionally, we must push to increase the yield per rai. When the yield is higher, the farmer's income increases, and the average cost per unit drops, ultimately allowing for profit after expenses.
We must wait and see how this unfolds. Thailand’s throne as the world’s #1 cassava exporter is being heavily shaken—but the ones feeling the tremor most are the Thai farmers, who are currently losing money just by doing their jobs.