Nitus Patrayotin, executive vice president of Afet, said that tapioca is the third most important crop in Thailand, following rice and rubber. From January to May this year, the country earned Bt16.797 billion from tapioca exports, an increase of nearly 22 per cent on the same period last year. Tapioca chips generated Bt5.7 billion in revenue from 1.42 billion tonnes of exports, or 33.94 per cent of overall tapioca exports, in the first five months of this year.

"The dramatic increase of tapioca chip exports is a result of an increase in demand for this raw material for use in the livestock food and tapioca pellet industries. Tapioca chip can also serve as one of the key feedstocks in the manufacture of ethanol, which is also gaining momentum as an alternative fuel source during this time of high oil prices," said Nitus.

Also, China is one Thailand's largest markets for tapioca chips, the government aims to promote production of quality tapioca chips and encourage exports of value-added products.

Afet is confident of launching tapioca chip futures next month.

"We expect a positive response from both manufacturers and hedgers who will use Afet as a tool for risk management, and from speculators who seek to benefit from of the price volatility of tapioca chip," Nitus said.