Rice Plus Award 2018 to boost Thai rice exports

BANGKOK, December 6 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Commerce plans to organize the Rice Plus Award 2018, in which individuals, community enterprises and corporates are invited to participate in sending their innovative rice products for a competition, aimed mainly to promote the potential of Thai grains and their exports. New Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong told journalists of the plan on December 5, noting that the Rice Plus Award 2018 has been tentatively set to be held in Bangkok in May 2018, aimed to also boost the image of Thai rice and the varieties of Thai grains globally, as well as their special features and physical benefits. "There will be two categories of competition for the Rice Plus Award 2018, one is the competition of international dishes and the other is the competition of dessert recipes, both have Thai rice as their ingredients" the minister explained. According to the newly-appointed minister, the Thai Ministry of Commerce, through the Institute for Agricultural Production Innovation (APi), has steadily promoted and supported the local production of innovative rice products, beginning from promoting and supporting farmers to increasingly grow organic grains to be raw materials for producers of innovative rice products. The new minister said there are now a number of innovative rice products, including those in the main menu, supplementary food, snacks, rice bran oil, shampoo, cosmetics and even pharmaceutical products. The minister revealed that his ministry also plans to organize other activities to promote and develop innovative Thai rice products, including relevant research projects, business matching events between Thai rice producers and exporters and their counterparts in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMV group, and the exploration of sale and marketing opportunities for the Thai rice products at, for instance, international department stores, duty free shops and trade fairs. (TNA)