Thailand and Vietnam have reached an agreement to raise the price of domestically produced rice on the global market in order to help farmers alleviate rising costs.
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on stated that following the recent success of bilateral negotiations, special teams will be formed to push for higher prices of exported rice. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, advisor to Thailand’s Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, will be appointed as head of the special team to work on achieving this objective.
The ministry will hold meetings with farmers’ associations, millers, exporters and related groups to discuss the Thai-Vietnamese rice accord and solicit feedback from all relevant parties.
According to the minister, the agreement is the first step in Thai-Vietnamese efforts to help rice farmers earn fairer export prices through the global market pricing system. He added that Thailand, the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and Vietnam, the world’s second-largest exporter, will work together to negotiate an acceptable increase in global rice prices.
The minister also said both countries intend to set up a negotiation mechanism to ensure fairer prices and will try to persuade other rice exporters to join the initiative.
According to reports, about 3.99 million tons of the product worth 70.34 billion baht were exported between January and July 2022, marking a 58.2% increase in quantity over the same period last year. Thailand has set a target to export 7 million tons of rice in 2022.(NNT)