China buys 1.2 mln tonnes of Thai rice

BANGKOK, November 21 (TNA) - China has agreed to import over 2 million tonnes of Thai farm produce over the next two years, 1.2 million tonnes of which are rice and the rest are tapioca. Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan witnessed the signing of the government-to-government (G2G) deal between Sorasak Ruangkrua, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of Foreign Trade, and a representative of Bejing Great Northern Widerness Rice Industry Company, a subsidiary of China's state-owned Beidahuang Group, based in Heilongjiang Province, in Bangkok on Wednesday. Under the deal, China agrees to buy a total of 1.2 million tonnes of five-per cent white rice and broken-milled rice, as well as 90,000 tonnes of tapioca from Thailand at world market prices. The two-year contract requires monthly shipments, 50,000 tonnes each, with the first delivery to the Chinese market expected by next month. China, a large importing market of Thai rice at more than two million tonnes annually, will reportedly purchase the Thai farm products under the November 20 deal for domestic consumption or its re-exports to other overseas markets. China's own production of farm products has been affected by drought with rising prices, which is a good opportunity for Thailand to export more farm produce to the immense Chinese market and to realize the national policy on food security in the long run. (TNA)