Business matching for int'l rice traders held in Bangkok

BANGKOK, November 8 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Commerce, is organizing a business matching event for Thai and foreign traders of rice and rice products in Bangkok during November 7-10, in which over 170 Thai exporters of rice and rice products meet with over 160 importers of rice and rice products from 28 foreign economies. Thai Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong presided over a ceremony to inaugurate the four-day event in the Thai capital on Thursday, aimed to boost not only the country's exports of rice to about 11 million tons totally this year as officially-targeted, including those of newly-developed rice strains, but also rice prices and income of local farmers. The minister assessed that the ongoing event, in which importers of rice and rice products from such major foreign trading partners as China, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) participate, should result in immediate purchase orders of about 1.5 billion baht and more purchase orders of about 30 billion baht over the next 12 months. The minister said exporters of Thai rice and rice products have also secured purchase orders of 93,000 tons of their products totally from foreign importers as four memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were set to be signed between Thai rice exporters and part of the participating foreign importers of grains. Besides, an exhibition of Thai rice and innovative rice products is being held as part of the four-day event, along with the demonstration of varieties of rice cuisine under the officially-certified "Thai SELECT" label, including those of "ready to cook" and "ready to eat" ones. According to the minister, the participating foreign importers of rice and rice products are also scheduled to visit at least a learning center of Thai farmers' ways of life where they are welcome to observe the sound potential of local rice growers to enhance their confidence in the quality of Thai rice and rice products and to boost the image of the Kingdom's rice production sector. Based on official figures, Thailand's exports of rice alone stood at 8.12 million tons during the first nine months of this year, worth about 4.10 billion US dollars totally, a 14.13 per cent year-on-year increase, with major importing markets including Benin, the United States, Indonesia, China and the Philippines. (TNA)