Chupup

This is about much bigger things than politics, and the anti-democratic 'Yellow Shirts' have played their hand brilliantly as they tightened the noose around a democratically elected government. I just worry about the repercussions...

Have you been asleep for the last 10 years

wakey Wakey

The yellow shirts are not the main party here

they may have joined in

but these are The people of Thailand protestors

many issan people are part of the protest and they hate the yellow shirts

Sorry I am stupid thinking you where living in Thailand

are you missing you last beer bar holiday ?

I wonder if there will be the nice day in which you will make a post where you can expose your idea without insulting the poster you are referring too.

Believe me, a little of manner would make no harm, really.

I'm sick of these insulting trolls, too.

Discussions are not fun anymore with these kind of comments every few posts. And they have no real value, they're just the same old blah blah Thaksin, blah blah Dubai, blah blah Shinawatra, blah blah vote buying ...

You could go away for a few days and come back and jump right back in without having missed anything.

ShanonT if the insulting trolls make you sick, why don't you stop posting them ??

Wow.

"Rice Farmers" carrying bottles of designer water, just like the Bangkok people who were pretending to be farmers last week.

So, just what are you implying, that just because they have " designer Bottles" they really arn't Rice farmers

You really do produce "nonsence Posts" . ...............

The 2 things are completely separate, one the rice pledging ( I don't support, never have), two, the commercial transaction to sell rice to China. Any sane person would support that...it gets the farmers paid and reduces the mountain, albeit at a loss. That transaction has been derailed by Suthep . Tragic for everyone, especially the farmers. I'm not surprised the Chinese got cold feet...but there is no reason why the sale should not proceed. In fact, it's in everyone's best interests that it does so ( apart from a few obsessions who see something corrupt in a straightforward, transparent transaction). Mystifying

The transaction was not derailed by Suthep, it never appeared to exist as any more than a verbal vague commitment with no pricing or details agreed. Maybe that is a straightforward transparent transaction to some, but it certainly isn't to me (one of the many people paying for this scheme). How Suthep could derail it as a protester I have no idea; the PM or government officials or the Chinese could derail it - what power does Suthep have??? Zero other than the power to show corruption!

Like most of the other G2G deals, it never was real, it is fairytales and handbags.

This was the original claim - 1million tons starting with 500,000 tons in Dec to the Chinese - we should have seen deliveries already made and cash in:

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/china-agrees-buy-1-million-tonnes-rice-one-year/

echoed by the PM in Oct - note it was only said by Thai side, never said by Chinese side AFAIK

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/10/thai-pm-says-rice-deal-secured-with-china-20131013145918839617.html

Now the scheme is 'cancelled' again only according to the Thai side, never by the Chinese side AFAIK, and the sale was supposedly to an unnamed state enterprise in Harbin; note from other sources we know that the same govt spokesperson had no problem stating the name of another company interested to purchase 1m tons of rice in China (China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation, a Chinese state-owned food conglomerate) but refused to give the details of the company who actually supposedly signed the contract no one has ever seen for 1.2m tons (different details than what was previously stated by the spokesperson and the PM in the past also). Deliveries in December vanished without a trace.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26028335

Now when we bear in mind the Thai govt (i.e. PT via the commerce ministry) claimed they would sell 8.5m tons for 2013 in Nov worth approx. 183 billion baht with 7m tons via G2G deals

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_281113-1.html

Then in Dec admitted the real number was likely to be more like 6.7m tons in Dec (1 month later) worth around 125 billion only for 2013 including G2G of 4.7m but even then the rice exporters themselves dispute this number claiming the G2G deals are lower than what the govt is claiming

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_271213-1.html

And what is interesting, is who actually buys Thai rice, coincidentally no China here in the past so it really would be a major win if Thailand had managed to sell rice to China this time around: "Thailands top five rice importers include Benin, Iraq, South Africa, the U.S. and Ivory Coast."

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_291213-1.html

We know what Thailand has been selling rice for: Thailand has sold 5%-white rice at 450 U.S. dollars/ton or approx. 13,500b per ton (supposedly) and apparently even trying to sell 5% at $420 USD (around 13,000b per ton) they cannot find customers in the private sector, so there has to be some seriously odd things going on if a foreign state wants to pay more for no reason (they could just buy from the private sector at a lower price rather than the G2G price) - hence the likely corruption on both sides of the transaction hidden by claims of 'security secrecy':

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_291213-1.html

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_171213-2.html

Now there are claims of other deals, like to Indonesia and Iran, but these are for hundreds of thousands of tons, which are way, way less than the sorts of numbers we need to raise funds

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_061213-1.html

The current stockpile, depending who you listen to is somewhere between 10m tons, and 16 and 17m tons (16m in this article).

http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2013/int_news_061213-1.html

Note that 1 million tons of rice would generate around 15 billion baht in a best case scenario (more likely they would be getting a price of around 13 billion at the most less delivery costs etc; as the scheme is short around 200 billion baht at last estimate and they need an instant 50 -77 - 130 billion baht to pay the farmers now (depending who you listen to), the numbers don't even come close to adding up - it is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual loss - we need to do another 3-9 deals of the same size immediately just to raise the cash needed. As we do not have the rice on hand (the government claims to have stockpiles but no one knows the quality or size of the stockpiles, and it's likely a bunch of rice is missing gone forever/never existed).

BTW Thailand imports some rice and exports Thai rice - Thai rice used to be world renowned for fragrance, quality and good pricing - at the right price why not sell abroad to other countries who grow rice - no issue. But the problem is trying to corner the market when you are not in an oligopoly situation; Mingkwan tried it in 2007 and it was a disaster...only PT would be so unwise to try the same thing again expecting a different outcome, but I guess its easy when they are only spending our money, not their own.

As I said, if Thaksin wants to support Thai rice farmers only (note there is no similar scheme for other crops) because they think the market price will rise, then the Shinawatras are rich enough to buy the rice for export themselves at the pledge price of 15,000, and they are welcome to the profits stemming from such a venture. No problem.

Ok, PRBKK, read this as it will surly answer your question IMHO the best post i have read on this subject