Thailand, ASEAN neighbours to set rice standard

BANGKOK, May 25 (TNA) - Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom opened the Thai Rice Festival 2012 at the Kamnan Song rice depot in the country's lower northern Nakhon Sawan Province on Friday, saying that the event, set from May 25-27, is aimed at announcing Thai rice strategies and cooperation among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially Thailand and Vietnam, on developing their rice standards to serve global markets. Boonsong acknowledged that the Thai government's rice mortgage scheme, under which mortgage price has been set at 15,000 baht per ton, has raised income of local farmers. According to the minister, although Thailand suffered from a massive flooding late last year, the prices of Thai rice exports stood at 556 US dollars per ton on average in 2011, when the Kingdom's total rice export reached over 10.6 million tons, worth nearly 200 billion baht, a historic high. The minister assessed that the prices of Thai rice exports should further rise to as much as 699 US dollars per ton this year, when the country's total rice export should also reach 8.5-9 million tons worth over 302 billion baht. (TNA)