Commerce hopes 10-tonne Thai jasmine rice donation will hook Chinese consumers

Phusit Ratanakul, director-general of the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), said the activity was organised by the department’s Fujian branch in cooperation with the Xiamen Mifeng C&O Trading company.

Bags of Golden Rabbit brand Thai rice were delivered to two women’s and children’s foundations in Fujian, which will then distribute the rice to underprivileged people in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Tibet as well as within Fujian province.

Phusit said this CSR (corporate social responsibility) activity will take Thai jasmine rice to remote areas in line with DITP’s strategy to make inroads into the Chinese market.

He said DITP has also assigned Thailand’s trade envoy in Xiamen to negotiate the purchase of Thai rice with importers and supermarket networks.

Nannapas Ngamman, director of the DITP office in Xiamen, said the office is using CSR activities to promote Thai jasmine rice, which was once again named the best jasmine rice in the world last year.

DITP has also launched a campaign advising consumers to identify authentic Thai jasmine rice by looking out for the special green logo with two ears of rice.

During the CSR event, Nannapas also chatted with a businesswoman from Ningde who expressed interest in importing Thai jasmine rice and exporting local food products to Thailand in return.

Meanwhile, Phusit quoted Guo Xiao Hui, managing director of Xiamen Mifeng C&O Trading, as saying that his company has only imported 5,000 tonnes of jasmine rice over the past 12 months due to high shipping costs and lack of containers. The company plans to import some 8,000 tonnes of Thai jasmine rice this year.

Meanwhile, Yang Li Qing, chairperson of one of the foundations, said the donation has strengthened bilateral ties. She also thanked the Golden Rabbit company, Xiamen city and the Thai government for extending help to underprivileged people.