Smuggled rice seized
Officials have intercepted 50 tonnes of paddy rice from Cambodia that a trader was attempting to smuggle into Thailand, heightening concerns at the Commerce Ministry that foreign rice could be used to exploit the government's pledging scheme.
Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol said yesterday that the military recently intercepted a truck that was being used to smuggle paddy rice into the country from Cambodia.
The government will investigate the matter and punish the unscrupulous trader who was attempting to smuggle the rice, Poom said.
Imports of paddy rice are banned to prevent abuse of the rice-pledging project.
Poom said the government was taking the case very seriously.
“If [substitution of cheap foreign rice] occurs, the government will lose a huge amount subsidising other countries’ farmers; the project would also be contaminated by low-grade rice, as other countries’ rice is of lower quality than Thai grains,” he said.
The ministry reported that only 4.7 million tonnes of paddy was entered into the pledging project between October 7 and Tuesday.
Permanent secretary Yanyong Phuangrach said the ministry aimed to enter about 10 million tonnes of rice into the subsidy project. Even factoring in the crops destroyed in the flooding, there should be more rice in the project, Yanyong said.
He said the ministry would urgently check stockpiles held by rice millers, traders and exporters, as the low amount of rice entered into the pledging project has kept market prices low.
