About 2 million tons of Thai rice sold through G2G deals

BANGKOK, Nov 6 (TNA) -- The Commerce Ministry is confident that global markets are demanding Thai rice, especially the new crop. It also reported that about 2 million tons of rice had been sold through government-to-government deals. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said the 2-million-ton sale was part of the government’s goal to export 10 million tons of rice and in the latest development the Department of Foreign Trade sealed a deal with the Indonesian Bureau of Logistics (BULOG) to export 500,000 tons of rice worth 8 billion baht to Indonesia. They comprise 50,000 tons of 5% broken white rice and 450,000 tons of 15% broken white rice of the new crop. Delivery by members of the Thai Rice Exporters Association is set from November 2015 to March 2016. Previously the Thai government signed a contract to export 300,000 tons of 25% broken white rice to the Philippines government and must also deliver 300,000 tons of rice to the Chinese government within this year. The government is about to seal another contract to sell 1 million tons of rice to the Chinese government and its delivery is scheduled in 2016. Ms Apiradi sees a bright prospect for the export and prices of Thai rice, attributing it to drought and trading partners’ restored confidence in Thai rice. She assured that old and low-quality rice in government stockpiles would be supplied only to industries and high-quality stocks would not be released until all rice from the new crop was sold out for the sake of price management. She also said that many countries were interested in old rice stockpiles of the government. (TNA)