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The European Commission, the 27-nation EU's anti-trust regulator in Brussels, announced the approval yesterday.

The partnership will assure Bangkok-based PTT Chemical of supplies of the raw material used in oleochemicals, which are used to make products like soap, shampoo and pharmaceuticals.

The joint venture is part of a larger deal in which Cognis Deutschland, a German chemical-maker, sold a 50-per-cent stake in its Malaysian manufacturing venture, Cognis Oleochemicals, to PTT Chemical.

The project will expand PTT Chemical's international reach, giving it access to markets in the US, Europe and Asia.

- Bloomberg

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Rice export price cut

Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, cut the benchmark export price of white rice 3.2 per cent to the lowest since March 26, says the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

The price of 100-per-cent grade-B rice was set at US$664 (Bt22,900) per tonne, down from $686 last week. The rice fetched an averaged $336 a tonne last October, the association said.

The price of 25-per-cent white rice was set at $522 a tonne, down from $543 a

week earlier and $313 last October.

The association holds a meeting each Wednesday to set prices. - Bloomberg