Several nations interested in Thai rice

BANGKOK, November 19 (TNA) - The Commerce Ministry said on Friday that several countries have expressed their interest in importing Thai rice. Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol told reporters of the update after visiting his ministry's Department of Foreign Trade, noting that the Thai Ministry of Commerce will focus on releasing national rice stocks under government to government (G2G) agreements, although shipments of Thai rice to overseas markets or destinations through other channels, namely general bidding, future trading via the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) and donations for humanitarian reasons, will also be maintained. Poom acknowledged that the Thai government has not yet decided to release national rice stocks, despite recent offers by 5-7 countries to purchase several million tonnes of Thai rice, as the country's ongoing flooding crisis has delayed the government's acquirement of more reserved grains under its rice mortgage scheme; while more assessment for a most suitable time and total volume of new overseas shipments of Thai rice is also needed. According to the Thai deputy commerce minister, officials of the Department of Foreign Trade will soon lead a Thai delegation to visit other rice producing and exporting countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, to further enhance trade ties and cooperation and to seek a common policy on stable prices of rice exports to the world market for mutual benefits of their farmers. (TNA)