Rice traders under watch over price-dumping

"The price that a Thai rice trader quoted for exporting white rice to some

markets is surprisingly low and could be below cost. The department will look into this to see if that should stop, as it could hurt the market and lead to unfair competition," Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the department, said yesterday.

The cheap rice has been sold to some countries in Asia. Most was from the new crop.

Since there are no specific laws or regulations controlling rice trading, the Commerce Ministry will need to consider some measures to prevent price-dumping, because this unfair practice could undermine the market price and cause farmers to suffer in long-term.

The department will open the year’s seventh round of bidding for 462,931 tonnes from the government’s rice stocks next Tuesday. Many traders are expected to join the auction, since there is a shortage of rice in the market because of the drought.

After the government declared an end to support for the second crop, the supply of new rice could be quite low. For instance, the new main paddy crop is expected at about 23 million tonnes, or 4 million tonnes lower than the previous main crop.

With little rice entering the market, the ministry also expects the rice price to continue trending up in the long term, although it softened over the past few weeks from price dumping in overseas markets by some local traders.

According to the ministry, Thailand shipped out 6.9 million tonnes of rice from January 1 to September 22, down by 5 per cent from the same period last year.

Exports also decreased slightly by 5 per cent to Bt110 billion, or down by 3 per cent to US$3.32 billion, because of the decline in the average export price for Thai rice by 3 per cent to $480 a tonne.

However, Thailand should still export up to 10 million tonnes this whole year, thanks to high demand in some markets and the drought in many rice source countries, Duangporn said.