Thailand to lead in setting up ASEAN rice confederation

BANGKOK, July 11 (TNA) - Thailand plans to convince other major rice-producing countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their private sector to set up an ASEAN rice confederation to collectively boost rice productivity and to stabilize regional rice prices on the world market. Thai Permanent Secretary for Commerce Yanyong Puangraj told reporters Wednesday that his ministry will join forces with the Thai private sector, especially rice millers, to convince the other major rice-producing countries in ASEAN, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, to develop regional cooperation on rice trade at the levels of governments, operators and farmers and to set up the proposed ASEAN rice confederation. Yanyong pointed out that the five ASEAN countries, including Thailand, normally produces up to 30-40 million tons of rice annually, which can sufficiently serve global demand, saying that he believes the cooperation can further raise both the prices of rice from Southeast Asia and regional farmers’ incomes. Yanyong revealed that Thai Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom is attending the first meeting of the Thai-Vietnamese Joint Trade Committee in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, from July 11-12, during which he is also proposing the regional rice cooperation plan. The senior Thai official acknowledged that his ministry is confident Thailand will export up to 8-9 million tons of rice throughout this year although Thai rice exports had amounted to only 3.6 million tons in the first half of this year, and that Thai jasmine rice is now priced at about 1,000 US dollars per ton and white rice at 550-600 US dollars per ton. According to the senior Commerce Ministry official, global demand for Thai rice remains high and exports of Thai rice in the second half of this year should pick up, even though a year-on-year drop of the country's rice exports, to only 3.6 million tons during the January-June 2012, due to rising prices, had prompted many parties to fear that grain importing countries would buy rice from other neighboring countries, and that Thailand could lose its rice export championship. (TNA)