Rice industry on track: minister
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Chatchai Sarikulya said yesterday that this government will focus more on promoting "rice" as a whole industry so that following governments will no longer need to be concerned only about price management.
It will soon establish the country’s first R&D institute for rice to improve grain quality from growing and packaging to marketing. The ministry plans to ask for an initial budget of Bt100 million to set up the institute.
Future crops of rice should have better quality, while farmers would not worry about falling prices any longer. This government has drawn up a plan for zoning areas for rice farming, installing irrigation systems in suitable rice-growing provinces, supporting the production of quality seeds and encouraging farmers to plant organic or non-chemical rice.
The government recently reported that about 80 per cent of its rice inventory – or about 10 million-12 million tonnes from a total of 18 million tonnes – has deteriorated in quality.
However, Chatchai said those rice stocks can still be consumed but need some quality adjustment.
About 90 per cent of rice in the government’s stocks is in good condition and ready to be released. But some sales may yield a low return as buyers need to spend their own funds to improve the quality.
Only about 5 per cent of rice in storage has been damaged and is subject to legal action. However, the government could still sell this rice for ethanol or feed meal production.
The government will continue to sell rice under many methods, particularly government-to-government deals. The government is negotiating with China to sell about one million tonnes on top of a previous contract for one million tonnes, for which Thailand has already shipped about 300,000 tonnes.
Chatchai will next month go to Beijing to convince the government there to purchase more rice from Thailand. Other countries with high potential to buy Thai rice are the Philippines, Indonesia and Bahrain.
Following the government’s plan to accelerate rice releases, Thailand is expected to export about 11 million tonnes of rice this year.
Next year, shipments should be over 11 million tonnes, he added.
According to the ministry’s report, Thailand shipped out 8.38 million tonnes of rice during the first nine months of this year. That was a significant increase of 70.1 per cent from last year. Value was up by 29.8 per cent to Bt130.53 billion or by 20.9 per cent to US$4.06 billion.
