Yingluck Shrugs Off Doomsday Warning On Rice Scheme

[webfact]

PM shrugs off doomsday warning on rice scheme

BANGKOK, Oct 4 – Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assured today that she was not disturbed by her economic chief advisor’s objection to the government’s rice pledging scheme.

Virabongsa Ramangkura, who is also Bank of Thailandchairman, warned that the government will be doomed if it proceeds with the widely-criticised scheme.

The former deputy prime minister and finance minister said it is difficult to scrutinise the graft-plagued pledging procedure.

Ms Yingluck said everybody has the right to express concern while the government has to explain advantages of the scheme for farmers.

She insisted that the rice pledging scheme will boost farmers’ income and stimulate the country’s economy.

“Everyone is aware that the prices of Thai rice do not reflect the real market value. This is because the quality of Thai rice is high,” she said. “The government does not aim at making profit from the scheme or rice sales.”

The premier added, “Problems and obstacles are common when we start something new. We are collecting information to find proactive and defensive solutions.”

Commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, assigned to find measures to assist rice exporters affected by the scheme, said deputy prime minister Chalerm Yubumrung will lead a team to investigate corruption in the pledging procedure, an allegation widely raised by politicians, academics and rice exporters.

He said the commerce ministry has sold more than seven million tonnes of rice to various countries on government-to-government basis.

Compared to the previous government which spent Bt80 billion for the rice scheme, the Yingluck government’s programme is reasonable, he said, adding that the country’s total rice production is over 30 million tonnes while the government has pledged only 20 million tonnes.

Much rice is in circulation in the domestic market, he said. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-04

[rubl]

"Everyone is aware that the prices of Thai rice do not reflect the real market value. This is because the quality of Thai rice is high," she said. "The government does not aim at making profit from the scheme or rice sales."

The premier added, "Problems and obstacles are common when we start something new. We are collecting information to find proactive and defensive solutions."

Puzzling statements. 'everyone is aware'? 'price doesn't reflect market value'? 'start something new'?

The 'government doesn't aim at profit' is probably the only correct statement

[Skywalker69]

Commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, assigned to find measures to assist rice exporters affected by the scheme, said deputy prime minister Chalerm Yubumrung will lead a team to investigate corruption in the pledging procedure, an allegation widely raised by politicians, academics and rice exporters.

Ok boys and girls we are in safe hands.

[TomTao]

Looks like an obvious attempt to deny the truth with comments such as those in the PM's statement, I get the picture of an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Ricardo]

"The government does not aim at making profit from the scheme or rice sales."

True, the government aims at making a wacking great loss from rice sales, and succeeds in doing so, another success for the current government !

But when the government pays the promised B15k or B20k per-ton for rice, but the Commerce Minister says farmers receive an average of about B11k, where does PM-Yingluck believe the rest of the money is going ?

[dcutman]

According to the TDRI, 63% of the funds spent on the pledging programme went to merchants and millers, with the rest going to farmers. Only 5% of funds spent went to poor farmers.

Not sure how this stimulates the economy, with only the few very rich, get the lion share of this scam scheme.

Lets not forget, not only do people eat rice, it is used for animal feed as well, with all the rice being stocked, animal feed is becoming more and more in short supply. So naturally the price of feed is going up, raising production cost, higher prices for the food we humans eat.

[Pib]

See no evil rice scheme, Speak no evil rice scheme, Hear no evil rice scheme. All is good in government schemes especially when a scheme wins favor with key voting groups. It's all good until other voting groups start see the scheme as negatively affecting them. Will be interesting to see how all this ends, but on the surface it sure appears the government can't keep the scheme in its current form for too much longer...but hey, plenty of highly controversial schemes continue on for many years (at least until the next election).

[asiawatcher]

"It is difficult to scrutinise the graft-plagued pledging procedure." Exactly why Yingluck and the puppet master want it... after all she is only doing what she is told.

Edited October 4, 2012 by asiawatcher

[hellodolly]

"The government does not aim at making profit from the scheme or rice sales."

True, the government aims at making a wacking great loss from rice sales, and succeeds in doing so, another success for the current government !

But when the government pays the promised B15k or B20k per-ton for rice, but the Commerce Minister says farmers receive an average of about B11k, where does PM-Yingluck believe the rest of the money is going ?

Well I would imagine quite a bit into storage. The rest into private pockets. Dosen't her brother own quite a bit of rice fields? At the price the Government is wanting for it they must hold it for a long time.

What is the shelf life on stored rice?

[hmj]

#8 asiawatcher

"Exactly why Yingluck and the puppet master want it..." But it can backfire in a few years from now.

[BookMan]

"The government does not aim at making profit from the scheme or rice sales."

True, the government aims at making a wacking great loss from rice sales, and succeeds in doing so, another success for the current government !

But when the government pays the promised B15k or B20k per-ton for rice, but the Commerce Minister says farmers receive an average of about B11k, where does PM-Yingluck believe the rest of the money is going ?

Well I would imagine quite a bit into storage. The rest into private pockets. Dosen't her brother own quite a bit of rice fields? At the price the Government is wanting for it they must hold it for a long time.

What is the shelf life on stored rice?

according to this, decades.

http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/35

[jayboy]

"It is difficult to scrutinise the graft-plagued pledging procedure." Exactly why Yingluck and the puppet master want it... after all she is only doing what she is told.

Except for the minor problem that there is as yet no evidence of graft .Doesn't mean there isn't nor that there won't be (this is Thailand after all) but I don't see why critics of the scheme, of which I am one, should invoke the corruption issue without any proof.Much of the criticism of the scheme is politically inspired and old hands familiar with past asset declarations will note the irony of Virabongsa criticising the "graft plagued pledging procedure".The reality is that all governments in Thailand, particularly this one dependent on the rural majority, have to address the issue of income distribution.I don't think this costly subsidy is the right way to go, too short term and also unsustainable.For a welcome breath of sanity on the problem Philip Bowring has written an excellent article in the WSJ.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444138104578027960861182352.html

[Katipo]

She has no clue whatsoever.

Edited October 4, 2012 by Katipo

[cloudhopper]

It's a very bad sign when the central banker is the most honest and intelligent member of the current government.

[Nickymaster]

She has no clue whatsoever.

O yes she has a clue. Her brother is receiving huge kick-backs from:

1. Local traders

2. Neighbor countries.

We are most probably witnessing the biggest scam in modern Thai history.

Yingluck puts up the smile and innocent face, and her brother is robbing the country.

[jerrysteve]

no comment

[LuckyLew]

Of course she shrugs it off

The Shinawatras are always right and everyone else is always wrong

Either that or she does not know anything about the subject

[jbrain]

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assured today that she was not disturbed by her economic chief advisor’s objection to the government’s rice pledging scheme.

Why isn't this a government existing only of a single woman with one adviser afar, since this is how it is in reality anyway.

[Ban Sao]

How much has the man from far away made off this scam?

[OzMick]

"It is difficult to scrutinise the graft-plagued pledging procedure." Exactly why Yingluck and the puppet master want it... after all she is only doing what she is told.

Except for the minor problem that there is as yet no evidence of graft .Doesn't mean there isn't nor that there won't be (this is Thailand after all) but I don't see why critics of the scheme, of which I am one, should invoke the corruption issue without any proof.Much of the criticism of the scheme is politically inspired and old hands familiar with past asset declarations will note the irony of Virabongsa criticising the "graft plagued pledging procedure".The reality is that all governments in Thailand, particularly this one dependent on the rural majority, have to address the issue of income distribution.I don't think this costly subsidy is the right way to go, too short term and also unsustainable.For a welcome breath of sanity on the problem Philip Bowring has written an excellent article in the WSJ.

http://online.wsj.co...0861182352.html

"The reality is that all governments in Thailand, particularly this one dependent on the rural majority, have to address the issue of income distribution."

Yes and there are 2 ways of doing this. One is the socialist method where they waste resources handing out subsidies which just maintain a level of poverty (but buys votes.) The capitalist solution is to reform the industry and move the labour force into more economic industry - get a haircut and get a real job.

BTW there is little evidence of graft except for the overall view, billions of baht being poured in and NOT going to the stated (which is quite likely a lie) destination. Perhaps the lack of actual incidences found is due to lack of diligence, looking the other way, deliberately not tracking the flow of money. After all, the vampires are running this blood-bank.

[jayboy]

BTW there is little evidence of graft except for the overall view, billions of baht being poured in and NOT going to the stated (which is quite likely a lie) destination. Perhaps the lack of actual incidences found is due to lack of diligence, looking the other way, deliberately not tracking the flow of money. After all, the vampires are running this blood-bank.

Whatever the reason there is as yet no evidence of corruption and I recognise your honesty in acknowledging this.Having said that there would seem to be plenty of opportunities for graft, but that's a different matter.Over time we will certainly get a better picture and as I suggested earlier one can hardly be other than cynical.I understand why the government adopted this policy (actually not much different from Japan) but I believe it to be shortsighted.

[AleG]

BTW there is little evidence of graft except for the overall view, billions of baht being poured in and NOT going to the stated (which is quite likely a lie) destination. Perhaps the lack of actual incidences found is due to lack of diligence, looking the other way, deliberately not tracking the flow of money. After all, the vampires are running this blood-bank.

Whatever the reason there is as yet no evidence of corruption and I recognise your honesty in acknowledging this.Having said that there would seem to be plenty of opportunities for graft, but that's a different matter.Over time we will certainly get a better picture and as I suggested earlier one can hardly be other than cynical.I understand why the government adopted this policy (actually not much different from Japan) but I believe it to be shortsighted.

Kittiratt admits corruptions found in rice-pledging scheme

Look up "DSI lifts lid on rice pledge fraud tactics" because it's content from the Bangkok Post that can't be quoted here.

[koolbreez]

There is evidence of graft. Millers have been using rigged moisture gages to rob the farmers by showing the rice as being to wet, and paying the farmer less as a result, then pocketing the difference. There are instances of more rice showing up in storage than was harvested, and the list goes on.

The sceme is so sucessful the military has now authorised the government to use military warehousing at Don Muang for storage.

The biggest factor though is Thaksin's dream of creating a rice cartel with the countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This would give him the ability, he dreams, to control roughly 60% of the world export rice harvest, and better allow him to dictate price. The key player Vietnam is to decide in the next few weeks if it wants to be part of the cartel.

This is what Thaksin has been learning with all the time he's spent in Dubai around the oil cartel, and now he wants to be the rice cartel king. He was hoping by taking the bulk of the Thai export rice off the market he could manipulate world prices, but now realises he can't, and needs the rest of the area around Thailand under his control in order to have any chance of doing it. His biggest stumbling block is India (not invited into the cartel), and all his effort is doing is moving India into the number one exporter spot, even ahead of Vietnam within the next year.

[jonclark]

The thing that is really annoying here is that, this is our money, the tax money we all worked hard to earn, being willingly and wastefully lost by the government and they have the gall to tell us it okay, that's the point, they never intended to use our money to make a profit. The logic is baffling.

[SOTIRIOS]

....because she has so much experience....

...or because someone told her to say so......

....

[GentlemanJim]

BTW there is little evidence of graft except for the overall view, billions of baht being poured in and NOT going to the stated (which is quite likely a lie) destination. Perhaps the lack of actual incidences found is due to lack of diligence, looking the other way, deliberately not tracking the flow of money. After all, the vampires are running this blood-bank.

Whatever the reason there is as yet no evidence of corruption and I recognise your honesty in acknowledging this.Having said that there would seem to be plenty of opportunities for graft, but that's a different matter.Over time we will certainly get a better picture and as I suggested earlier one can hardly be other than cynical.I understand why the government adopted this policy (actually not much different from Japan) but I believe it to be shortsighted.

Go and ask on the farming forum on TV. You may not have found evidence of corruption but farmers are only getting 10-11K per tonne. That means that 5-10K per tonne is going somewhere else, and it is certainly not going where it is supposed to go and that is to the farmers.

Edited October 4, 2012 by GentlemanJim

[asiawatcher]

#8 asiawatcher

"Exactly why Yingluck and the puppet master want it..." But it can backfire in a few years from now.

I hope so! But by then things will be down another path, another scam, and even if it raised the 'powers that be' will sweep it into oblivion and submit to an investigation so they can throw more money into someone else's pocket. It is never ending.

Edited October 4, 2012 by asiawatcher

[GentlemanJim]

Two posts on the farming forum caught my eye

the first by "Cooked"

I see that instead of following what seem to me to be sensible proposals for adjusting the rice pledging scheme (for instance, no family should receive more than ฿350 000.-, meaning that 'some big landowners' would be losing out), that they merely cut the budget by 40%, meaning presumably, that the small farmers will now get even less.

The red shirts have told the farmers that academics want to abolish the scheme and are demonstrating against these proposals, egged on by the red shirts of course.

Now I may be being over sensitive but the last line I put in bold sounds very very like the Khmer Rouge doesn't it. Thaksin and Thida have very 'red' plans for Thailand!

The second by Mosha

There was a piece on BBC World News this AM. Only the big land owner farmers get any real benefit. Exporters are pissed, as it's too expensive to sell. The farmers keep planting, cos they will get paid regardless. Exports down 40% on last year.

[belg]

the quality is high ? if you read other reports, that low grade rice is bought from other countries and mixed... imported and millers get the high fixed price.... who are they kiddding ??? who wants the bankrupcy of this country?

i guess the great saver will come when its done, take his billions and get out again