Soaring price of Thai rice worries European importers
Rice importers in Europe have complained about the rising price of Thai rice, which could affect its competitiveness in some markets.
After leading a delegation of Thai rice traders to France and Switzerland, Benjawan Ratanaprayul, director of the Commerce Ministry’s Bureau of Trade and Economic Policy, said importers asked many questions about the government’s rice-pledging project, as they were highly concerned over the soaring price of Thai rice.
The pledging project starts today, guaranteeing a price of Bt15,000 per tonne of white paddy rice, and Bt20,000 for paddy jasmine rice. Since the announcement of the pledging policy, the price of Thai rice has increased continuously over the past few months from US$560 per tonne in August to $615 (Bt19,100) early this month.
“Rice importers said the higher price could destroy the competitiveness of Thai rice against other rice-exporting countries,” Benjawan said. However, the ministry attempted to explain that Thai rice is of higher quality than its rivals’ and comes in various types, so buyers would still be able to choose from different qualities of grains.
The rice traders’ visit to Europe was aimed at increasing trading channels for Thai rice and rice products.
Normally, the European market has high demand for Thai rice, in particular jasmine rice, as the product is known for high quality.
The ministry reported that export of Thai jasmine rice grew by 8.54 per cent to $1.05 billion in the first eight months of the year.
Trade delegations from Nakhon Sawan, Ubon Ratchathani, Surin, Roi Et, Phetchabun, Suphan Buri, Pathum Thani and Phatthalung joined the mission. Key European importers that met with the traders were Ascot Commodities, Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse, Alliance Commodities Suisse, Capezzana Shipping and Trading in Switzerland and France’s Soufflet Groupe, which is one of the biggest distributors in Europe and Africa.
Benjawan said the importers were not only interested in jasmine rice, but also other premium grains such as Sangyod rice and organic rice.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry reported that some millers in Suphan Buri province had pressured farmers to sell rice at the low price of Bt6,500 per tonne before the pledging project starts today.
A source from the ministry said the millers had lowered the purchase price as farmers were highly concerned about flooding, which meant they wanted to harvest urgently before the pledging scheme kicked off.
To prevent unfair trade practices by millers, the ministry has set up 15 task forces to inspect them nationwide and protect farmers’ rights under the pledging project.
