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Baht/$ 33.50/55
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GOLD |
14,450
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COMMODITIES
CHATRUDEE THEPARAT
The government yesterday agreed to sell rice in its stock on the government-to-government basis to countries mostly in Africa and Asia.
The pricing under the G-to-G deals would be based on friendship but must not affect domestic prices, said Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee.
A sub-committee in charge of rice distribution would consider in detail the appropriate volumes and prices to be proposed later to the Rice Policy Committee, said Dr Surapong, who joined the meeting of the Rice Policy Committee chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday.
According to deputy government spokeswoman Suparat Nakboonnam, the countries looking to buy Thai rice include Liberia, Iran, Nigeria, Djibouti and Bahrain. The UN World Food Programme is also interested.
Liberia wants to buy 600,000 tonnes of 25% white rice, while Iran intends to buy 120,000 to 200,000 tonnes of 100% Grade-B white rice.
Nigeria, meanwhile, intends to buy 250,000 tonnes of 5% broken parboiled rice. Djibouti approached the Thai government to buy 100,000 tonnes a year of 100% white rice, parboiled rice and Hom Mali rice for three years.
According to Ms Suparat, Bahrain plans to purchase 40,000 tonnes of Thai Hom Mali rice from Thailand, while the WFP would like 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of 25% white rice.
Malaysia also said it wanted to buy 500,000 tonnes of rice from the Thai government, she said.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry suggested that the government sell rice to those countries at friendship prices as they are major Thai rice importers.
In 2007, Thailand shipped rice to African countries in the total value of US$1.2 billion.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry is also urging the Thai government to accelerate distributing rice from its stockpile since competitors such as India, Pakistan and Vietnam have already expanded into those markets.
According to Dr Surapong, the government has ruled out selling rice under the bidding method, saying it is convinced of making profits from the G-to-G deals.
Ms Suparat said that given the massive orders, the government was confident of liquidating 2.1 million tonnes in old rice stocks over the next couple of months.
Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, tends to hold a large stockpile, the consequence of the domestic price intervention scheme.
The stockpile has risen 22% since the start of the latest programme launched in June this year to support prices paid to farmers.
The government has just bought 790,000 tonnes of paddy, equivalent to 474,000 tonnes of milled rice, pushing its overall stocks to 2.57 million tonnes, up from 2.1 million tonnes in January.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, the president of Thai Rice Exporters Association, said the government's approval to sell its stockpile through the G-to-G deals is the right decision, as it would not disturb domestic prices.
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