Merit in rice trade plan

EDITORIAL

Published: 15 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal allowing the Commerce Ministry to form a rice trade partnership with Asean's four other rice-producing countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, to stabilise rice prices in the global market and to promote food security in the region.

The plan involves the creation of a rice trade zone (RTZ) in Asean which is slated to be first implemented between Thailand and Cambodia with Cambodian paddy imported into Thailand, milled and then exported by Thailand on behalf of Cambodia.

The idea of a cartel of rice-producing countries in the Asean region was floated many years ago by Thailand, the world's number one rice exporter for several years until this year when the top ranking was captured by India. Back then, it hoped to make use of its dominant market position to influence prices in the global market.

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whatajoke
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Discussion 4 : 15 Nov 2012 at 15.224
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Forming a cartel for oil was disruptive enough to the world economy given our dependence on it, rice on the other hand is a staple that feeds the world's poor. Trying to manipulate the price is shameful. The US was once the world's number 1 exporter, they produce rice with mechanised methods that doesn't exploit the rural folk and their cheap labour. In an indirect you're forcing a poor Filipino or Nigerian family to pay 30% more to feed their children so that you can implement a cock-eyed scheme that enriches mostly the comfortable large scale Thai rice farmer.
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geoffo
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Discussion 3 : 15 Nov 2012 at 12.093
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define the PT version of "inadvertently" = " an opportunity to make money without risk".
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pjt
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Discussion 2 : 15 Nov 2012 at 08.322
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'Cambodian paddy imported into Thailand, milled and then exported by Thailand on behalf of Cambodia' So how do we stop this competing with the Thai rice pledging scheme (presumably we have to import at close to the rice pledge price) or (more likely) finding its way into the pledging scheme? Would it not be more sensible to help the Cambodians build enough mills for themselves to improve self sufficiency of their economy?
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nui
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Discussion 1 : 15 Nov 2012 at 06.061
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PT leader Charupong Ruangsuwan said, that the rice price-pledging policy has inadvertently excluded the very poor farmers who don't have title deeds to qualify themselves for full benefits of the scheme.
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Merit in rice trade plan | Bangkok Post: opinion