Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn yesterday said the government had agreed on a measure to absorb a combined 12.5 million tonnes of paddy rice from the market by providing soft loans for farmers, cooperatives and rice traders.
The package is aimed at delaying sales of new-crop rice and keeping the output in stockpiles during the main-crop harvest season, which runs from early November through to March.
The government will allocate Bt85.91 billion in soft loans for traders to purchase paddy rice and stock the produce for between two and six months, with this part of the package targeting 8 million tonnes of rice.
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, meanwhile, will provide soft loans for farmers and cooperatives to purchase rice at no lower than Bt10,000 per tonne, with farmers receiving Bt1,500 in price compensation for produce that is stockpiled in rice barns.
This part of the package targets another 2 million tonnes of rice.
Lastly, the government will provide a soft loan for farmers’ institutes to purchase rice from their members with a view to processing and adding value to the rice. This measure targets 2.5 million tonnes of paddy rice.
Moreover, the government will facilitate business-matching for farmers to meet with millers in 42 provinces, and will promote rice sales via a number of methods, including government-to-government (G2G), business-to-business and business-to-consumer, the minister said.
To promote G2G sales, the ministry will conduct missions to many rice-import markets, starting with Malaysia early next month, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Iran, Iraq and African countries.
Missions to Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Canada will continue throughout next year, Apiradi added.
The government will also encourage more rice consumption, promoting healthy and gluten-free options, as well as promote rice and specialty rice grains as gifts for special occasions.
The Commerce Ministry has also joined hands with modern traders such as UK-Based Tesco with a view to encouraging Thai rice sales at their outlets worldwide, she said.
Meanwhile, the Thai Rice Exporters Association expects overseas shipments of about 700,000-800,000 tonnes this month and next, due to G2G contracts with the Philippines and China, while more orders have been placed for Thai rice – albeit not for large volumes – to African markets.
Charoen Laothammatas, president of the association, said a steady flow of other overseas orders had been placed, although they were not for big lots.
Foreign demand is mostly for Hom Mali rice, following by white rice and parboiled rice.
However, prices of Thai rice have declined slightly in the world market as the Kingdom enters the new harvest season, he said.
Thai rice is currently quoted at US$369 (Bt12,928) per tonne, compared to $371 last week, he said, adding that this is however still higher than Vietnamese and Indian rice, which is quoted at $350 per tonne.
In the first nine months of the year, Thailand exported 6.85 million tonnes of rice worth $3.08 billion, for a year-on-year increase of 3.7 per cent in volume, and 1.6 per cent in value.