Ruling sought on G-to-G rice deals

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Ruling sought on G-to-G rice deals

Published: 16 Oct 2012 at 13.42
Online news: Local News

A large group of senators on Tuesday submitted petitioned the Senate speaker to seek the Constitution Court's ruling whether the government's rice sales under government-to-government (G-to-G) deals required approval from parliament under Section 190 of the constitution.

The petition, signed by 67 senators, was accepted by Surachai Liangboonlertchai, the first deputy speaker.

Paiboon Nititawan, a senator in the Group of 40, said the G-to-G contracts to sell 7.32 million tonnes of rice worth more than 114 billion baht concerned the country's trade and investment. They might affect economic security, incur a public debt and cause financial and monetary crisis in the future, affecting all people in the country.

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ricefield
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Discussion 7 : 16 Oct 2012 at 21.287
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It would be a bit more convincing if there were some elected senators in the list but they (67) are all appointed Senators and that says volumes. At least it should if you can think.
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howell
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Discussion 6 : 16 Oct 2012 at 20.576
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'....the G-to-G contracts to sell 7.32 million tonnes...'. What contracts ?
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Renaissance
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Discussion 5 : 16 Oct 2012 at 18.315
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I think that educated people smell a rat, even if the Red Shirt faithfuls don't. The Senators probably don't believe that there are any G-to-G sales and so they want to force the government's hand. If there are sales, then they surely think like the rest of us that the selling price will be much lower than the price the government paid for the rice. The Senators are concerned about the financial loss for the country. Personally, I think that no sales have been made and that the government is hoping that Thaksin can pull a rabbit out of the hat before the end of next year to save the government being accused of lies of another colour.
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khunbj
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Discussion 4 : 16 Oct 2012 at 17.434
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This is just what is expected from Senators that represent the rich middle men in the rice industry...they loose business, and they get billions less profit and they are upset about it and will use any means to claw their profits back....the middlemen earned a lot more per ton than farmers did and that for doing hardly any work...that has been turned around now and they are not happy....personally I think it is about time !
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pjt
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Discussion 3 : 16 Oct 2012 at 17.003
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D2@pjt - the 590/tonne number I quoted for the market price is in US$. At current exchange rates we are clearly getting a lot less that $590/tonne market price in these G2G deals
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pjt
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Discussion 2 : 16 Oct 2012 at 15.102
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If 114 bn represents the value of 7.32 million tonnes of rice this means the average realised price is 15,575/tonne - barely covers the pledge price of standard white rice let alone Hom Mali - and lower than the September market price for Thai white rice of around 590/tonne (which is also close to 6 months average). No surprise at G2G deals would be expected to be lower than market - however its seems the government scheme has reduced not increased export prices compared to free market mechanism - and Thai tax payer is subsidising foreign consumers
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beer_sing
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Discussion 1 : 16 Oct 2012 at 14.271
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Sound like trouble for PT.
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Ruling sought on G-to-G rice deals | Bangkok Post: news