Business matching event for rice traders organized in Bangkok

BANGKOK, November 1 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce has organized a business matching event for Thai and foreign rice traders in Bangkok, aimed to further boost exports of Thai rice and rice products to the world market. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn told journalists, after inaugurating the event on October 31, that her ministry earlier assigned Thai commercial envoys stationed in foreign markets worldwide to invite potential importers of rice and rice products in their respective areas to join the rice business matching event. Apiradi noted that more than 200 foreign rice importers from 25 economies worldwide who have high purchasing power, including those from China, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and other member countries of the ASEAN Community (AC), participated in Tuesday's event in Bangkok, together with over 100 Thai rice exporters. Apiradi assessed that purchasing orders at the event should be worth about 600 million baht totally, while those over the next one year should be worth about 30 billion baht totally. According to the minister, eight memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between exporters of Thai rice and rice products and their foreign importers were inked at the event, with the foreign importers including those from Hong Kong and the Philippines. The minister said that the rice business matching event was also aimed to help expand shipments of Thai rice to the world market to reach about 11 million tons in 2017, as officially targeted, and to promote more production of processed Thai rice products with added values among local producers. The minister revealed that her ministry's Department of Internal Trade has also worked together with other relevant agencies to boost the sale of Thai milled rice globally. Official statistics showed that overall Thai rice exports during the first nine months of this year reached 8.23 million tons, totally worth about 3.58 billion US dollars, a surge of 15.79 per cent year-on-year, with Benin, Cameroon, China, South Africa and the United States being major importing markets for Thai rice. (TNA)