Millers get Govt hand

Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan announced the decision after a meeting with the Thai Rice Millers Association (TRMA) yesterday.

"Millers have several million tonnes of rice on hand; the allocation of the government's rice orders will ensure that Thailand has high export efficiency and increase trade opportunity for millers," Mingkwan said.

The government earlier said it had orders for 6.7 million tonnes of rice under government-to-government contracts. The ministry's Foreign Trade Department will soon set up a meeting with rice millers to decide the exact distribution of rice orders among them.

In addition, four government and commercial banks - the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Bank and Kasikornbank - have agreed to give soft loans to millers to give them additional liquidity amid rising rice prices.

Pramote Vanichanont, an honorary adviser to the TRMA, said allowing for millers to participate in government-to-government contracts would not only increase millers' liquidity, but also guarantee that farmers would not be forced to sell rice at low prices.

"Millers will have our own export orders to distribute rice stocks at fair price. Previously, some exporters have been forced to buy rice at low prices from millers, which had a domino effect on farmers, as millers had to force down the price when purchasing rice directly from farmers," he explained.

He said the appropriate price for 5-per-cent rice under government-to-government contracts should not be lower than US$920 (Bt29,400) per tonne. The market price is now $1,050 a tonne.