No US officials due over thai rice scheme

“We have no formal position on the new Thai rice scheme, just as we have no formal position on the one before it,” said embassy spokesman Walter Braunohler, referring to the old price guarantee platform of the previous administration.
The US has studied the agricultural support policies of Thailand, the region and around the world until it better understands these programmes and their impact.
The Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday that the US would send a team with an adviser from the USDA and an international economist to Thailand this month.
The two officials will meet with Commerce permanent secretary Yanyong Phuangrach to be briefed about the government’s pledging policy, acting on complaints that the policy might breach the World Trade Organisation’s subsidy rule.
However, Yanyong insisted the US Embassy sent a letter to the ministry on July 20 urging a meeting with him this month to talk about the rice mortgage scheme and stock release measures.
The ministry is ready to share information with the US, as both countries are WTO members. Thailand’s rice-pledging policy has not dishonoured its WTO obligations and is not a subsidy, he said.
“A subsidy means dumping prices and hurting the competition of rivals but in this sense [Thailand’s subsidy] is designed to support [farm] income and help boost domestic and export prices,” he said.
Other rice exporting nations such as the US will also benefit from rising prices, he said.
What the Thai government spends on the programme is not aimed at lowering prices in the world market, but rather at increasing farmers’ earnings. The government will not quote a price lower than the market when selling its inventory.
“Thailand will gradually release its rice stocks in small lots to reduce the impact on the market when the price is climbing up,” he said.