Straits Times 18 Apr 08;
BANGKOK - THAILAND - the world's largest rice supplier - has guaranteed to export a near-record nine million tonnes of the grain this year as prices of the staple continue to soar on fears of shortages.
The Bangkok Post yesterday reported Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan as saying that Thailand could export more than that amount 'at a reasonable price'.
He pledged that the country would not take unfair advantage by raising the export price of rice.
He also told the paper the Foreign Trade Department's director-general and representatives of six Thai rice-exporting firms were going to Hong Kong and Macau to evaluate market demands and reassure international buyers that they could buy rice from Thailand.
Last year, Singapore imported 60 per cent of its rice from Thailand.
Mr Mingkwan reassured Thais that domestic demand would also be met. He said there was no need for anyone to hoard rice.
But there was little sign of the crisis abating elsewhere in the region yesterday.
In a clear sign of the strain on supplies after major exporters began to curb exports earlier this year, the Philippines yesterday managed to secure only two-thirds of the half a million tonnes of rice it had sought in tender.
A Bangladesh tender to import 25,000 tonnes of white rice closed on Wednesday without attracting any response.
And the offers which it did receive were between US$872.50 (S$1,180) and US$1,220 a tonne, sharply higher than the just over US$700 it paid last month.
There has been no let-up in the price rises, with rice futures surging 2 per cent to a record high on the Chicago futures market for the third straight session on Wednesday.
Early trading yesterday showed no let-up in price movement.
Thai 100 per cent B grade white rice, considered to be the world's benchmark, has hit US$950 per tonne, free on board - three times its price at the start of last year.
Thai PM says high rice prices helping farmers
Channel NewsAsia 20 Apr 08;
BANGKOK: Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Sunday told Thais to put up with soaring rice prices because poor farmers in the kingdom were benefiting from the record highs.
"If you sacrifice and pay more for rice – a bit more, not much more – it will benefit farmers," he said during his weekly address to the nation.
The benchmark Thai variety, Pathumthani fragrant rice, was priced on April 9 at 956 dollars per tonne for export, up about 50 percent from a month earlier, the Thai Rice Exporters Association said in its price survey.
International demand for Thai rice has soared after other top exporters Vietnam and India imposed limits on exports to ensure domestic supply.
This has pushed up domestic rice costs in Thailand, which have soared in line with the export price.
Samak said the government understood that rising food and fuel costs were taking their toll on Thai families, and reassured people that the government was looking into ways of boosting incomes. He did not elaborate.
Poor farmers in Thailand say they are not all benefiting from the record prices. Few can afford storage so they sell their rice as soon as it is harvested, while the rising cost of fuel is also a problem.
Samak has previously urged the public and producers not to hoard rice, promising there would be enough for everyone in Thailand, where the revered grain is eaten three times a day and is farmed by 3.6 million families.
Samak heads the People Power Party, which swept to power in elections in December largely because of the backing of the rural poor in Thailand's northeastern region.- AFP/so
