BANGKOK, April 11 (TNA) – Commerce and Deputy Prime Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan on Thursday affirmed that Thailand's prices of export rice and local paddy had surged in response to ordinary market mechanisms, not in response to any speculation as many worry.
Delivering a speech on "Thai Rice Strategy" before the National Economic and Social Advisory Council, he restated the need to keep 2.1 million tonnes of rice in stock to ensure local people have enough rice for consumption.
Currently, he said, Thai jasmine rice -- khao hom mali -- is priced at an average of 34,600-36,000 baht per tonne(US$1,091-1,135), 5 per cent white rice at 26,400-26,700 baht per tonne (US$832-842), and paddy at 17,000-18,000 baht per tonne (US$536-567).
Mr. Mingkwan viewed the prices of export rice and local paddy as reflecting what they should, and that they had not been inflated or manipulated by speculation as many entrepreneurs worried.
The commerce minister said that the sons and daughters of upcountry farmers had migrated to metropolitan Bangkok looking for faculty, household, and other services sector employment, but now had been asked by their parents in the provinces to return home to do farming since rice prices had surged.
But it is not known how many workers from the metropolitan labour pool have returned to their ancestral lands to till the earth and harvest the paddy.
The deputy premier conceded that the Commerce Ministry had not yet prohibited rice exports because it wants the rice trade to proceed by market mechanisms.
Should the export demand increase to such a large extent that local rice is in short supply, the ministry would respond with measures to deal with the situation at that time.
In the first three months of this year, rice exports totaled 3.26 million tonnes, up 166.2 per cent from the 1.96 million tonnes shipped in the corresponding period the year before.
The target rice export for the whole year is originally set at 8.75-9 million tonnes.
Mr. Mingkwan said he believed that Thai rice prices are unlikely to decline for now because the world population had increased and farmlands in many countries had been developed into industrial areas.
Under the circumstances, he said, Thailand would benefit from higher farm prices. It would help boost bargaining power of farmers. (TNA)-E005
Business News : Last Update : 09:35:06 11 April 2008 (GMT+7:00)
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