BANGKOK -- Thailand's production of premium rice has fallen this year for the first time since the country began growing the crop more extensively a decade ago in an effort to shift agriculture to more value-added export products.
Prices of premium agricultural export surge, helped by strong baht

Farmer transplanting rice in a field near Khon Kaen, northeastern Thailand.
BANGKOK -- Thailand's production of premium rice has fallen this year for the first time since the country began growing the crop more extensively a decade ago in an effort to shift agriculture to more value-added export products.