In 2025, Chongqing's total import and export value with Thailand is approximately 34.15B yuan, with a surge in demand for cassava products.

On April 8, the business matchmaking conference for Thai cassava product import and export enterprises was held in Yuzhong District, Chongqing. More than 30 companies participated in the event.

Chongqing and Thailand have long-standing economic and trade cooperation. In 2025, the total import and export value between Chongqing and Thailand was approximately 34.149 billion yuan RMB, a year-on-year increase of 55.2%. Of this, exports were about 25.13 billion yuan RMB, a year-on-year increase of 64.6%, and imports were about 9.019 billion yuan RMB, a year-on-year increase of 34%. In the first two months of 2026, the total import and export value between Chongqing and Thailand was approximately 5.3 billion yuan RMB, a year-on-year increase of 64%.

Cassava is well known as the “King of Starch” and the “Underground Granary.” It is one of the world’s three major tuber crops and six major food crops, and it is also a highly competitive high-quality agricultural product in Thailand, with broad market prospects. In 2025, the total import and export volume of cassava and cassava starch in Chongqing was approximately 60,330 tons, a year-on-year increase of 215.4%.

Yang Xuchao, Vice Chairman of the Municipal Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that agricultural products and food processing industries are among the city’s leading industries. The food processing sector cannot do without high-quality cassava starch. Upgrading products such as rice noodles, baking, beverages, and ready-to-cook meals will inevitably lead to a sustained increase in demand for mid-to-high-end Thai cassava starch.

As for the traditional feed sector, the southwest’s livestock breeding industry is continuously moving toward large-scale and intensive development. Cassava starch and dried cassava slices, as high-quality energy feeds, have long-term stable demand. More importantly, driven by the green energy transition and the “dual carbon” goals, cassava is a high-quality raw material for fuel ethanol, and its annual growth rate in the bioenergy field can reach 15%. Chongqing and the Southwest region are accelerating green transformation to open up an entirely new growth market for Thai cassava.

Yang Xuchao said that Chongqing has strong industrial manufacturing capability and a solid foundation in the medical and health industry. Its advantages are highly complementary to Thailand’s raw material strengths. He welcomes Thai enterprises to come to Chongqing to set up processing bases, and also supports Chongqing enterprises to invest in planting and processing, together building a complete industrial chain from planting, through deep processing, to sales.