Rice-price bonanza to 'boost economy'
Published on April 17, 2008
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan believes escalating prices for rice will become a key factory in helping stimulate Thailand's economy and boost consumers' purchasing power.
The country's gross domestic product will grow, as will farmers' spending power, because rice prices are on the uptrend, Mingkwan said.
World rice prices have more than doubled in the past three or four months, because of shortages of supply in many exporting countries. World demand is also rising, so Thailand, which has no restrictions on exports, has a good chance of earning more money.
As the world's largest rice exporter, Thailand has seen the price of jasmine rice rise from between Bt12,000 and Bt15,000 per tonne late last year to between Bt34,600 and Bt36,000. In the same time, the price of 5-per-cent white rice has risen from between Bt7,000 and Bt10,000 per tonne to between Bt26,400 and Bt26,700.
Mingkwan said the continuing trend would help turn Southeast Asia into a prosperous region, comparable even with the Middle East.
He said 85 per cent of Thailand's population consisted of low and lower-middle income groups, and of these between 17 million and 20 million people were rice farmers.
Farmers will have more money to spend on consumer goods and automobiles and be able to repay debts accumulated in recent years because of low returns for rice farming, he said.
Meanwhile, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warned the global shortage of food grains was now an emergency issue.
India and Vietnam, the world's second- and third-largest rice exporters, respectively, have already suspended exports, due to lower domestic supplies.
At present, Thailand's share of the global rice market is 31.4 per cent, and Mingkwan said this could jump to as much as 40 per cent. Thailand is expected to export 9 million tonnes of rice this year.
The Commerce Minister said the government would hold its stockpile of 2.1 million tonnes of rice, in order to ensure domestic food security until this year's first harvest in November, which is expected to yield about 15.8 million tonnes of rice.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
nationmultimedia.com
yep , that bridge is still for sale ................
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