Bangladesh rules out hike in volume of Thai rice import

Although Thailand has requested an increase in imports of Thai rice to 1 million tonnes this year, Bangladesh has not accepted the proposal, saying imports will remain unchanged from last year. However, it will consider whether to increase imports when its new order will be placed within two months.
Thailand has a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Bangladesh under which that country will import an average of 1 million tonnes of parboiled rice from Thailand from 2012-13. Thailand also has the same agreements to export an average of 1 million tonnes to Indonesia for five years and the Philippines for three years, focusing on white rice.
Recently, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom led a Thai trade mission to Bangladesh and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates to boost not only rice exports but also trade with those partners. Boonsong said Bangladesh has urged Thailand to rely on the market when quoting rice prices, as Bangladesh paid more than the market price for Thai rice last year.
“The prices this year will be quoted a little bit higher than last year. Thai government has focused on selling rice under government-to-government contracts,” he said.
The government has proceeded with its plan to release rice from its stocks through government-to-government deals. The ministry is negotiating aggressively with both countries that Thailand has MoAs with and other countries.
“I still believe that Thailand’s rice exports will hit 8.5 million tonnes but to reach 9.5 million tonnes as targeted, we need to work harder,” he said.
“We have seven to eight months to sell rice for this year,” he said.
According to the Thai Rice Exporters Association, as of May 19, Thailand’s rice exports reached 2.61 million tonnes. The government will next visit countries like South Africa and other Middle East countries, focusing on white rice and jasmine rice.
Ghulam Muhammed Quader, commerce minister of Bangladesh, said Dhaka wants to see a balance in trade between the two countries. The country has urged Thailand for concessions in duties on imports from Bangladesh such as jute and jute products, which are some of the country’s important exports.
“Without concession tariffs, Bangladeshi goods have not competed with others, particularly our goods with potential including leather and leather products, engineering products and cables,” Quader said.
Bangladesh’s jute and jute products can enter duty free many countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Australia.
Two-way trade between Bangladesh and Thailand reached US$1.1 billion (Bt31 billion) last year, of which exports to Bangkok were only $30 million, leaving a huge trade deficit for Bangladesh.
Quader also agreed with Thailand’s proposal to double two-way trade within five years as access to seamless trade under the Asean Economic Community will help reduce its trade deficit.
Bangladesh also wants to see more investment from Thailand, saying it offers many attractive advantages such as cheap labour, land ownership rights and easy access to the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, |China and India – countries with which it has been granted tax waivers.
NYGANNED ABDUR RAZZAQUE, minister of Food and Disaster Management Ministry of Bangladesh,