BANGKOK, 10 February 2013 The Ministry of Commerce is set to actively pursue direct rice sales with any government, which could be in need of more paddies, in its bid to efficiently manage supplies kept under the pledging scheme.
Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said after a seminar on Thailand’s 2013 rice trade policy and strategy, held in Nakhon Ratchasima, that, in 2013, the Commerce Ministry is planning to sell the paddies stored under the state-initiated pledging scheme through a Government-to-Government deal, particularly with the countries that have high demand for rice.
Under this approach, Ms. Vatchari is confident that the ministry will be able to sell more than seven million tons of rice; the level that is higher than in 2012, through the deals that involve big volume.
The Permanent Secretary for Commerce also affirmed that both state and private warehouses, participated in the rice-pledging scheme, could store up to 30 million tons of rice, which are sufficient for the execution of the project.
For the 2012/2013 crops, Ms. Vatchari stated that around 9.8 million tons of rice have already been pledged with the government, which has paid over 132 billion baht to participating farmers.
