Commerce Ministry needs Bt320 billion for new round of rice subsidy
By English News



BANGKOK, March 4 – A new injection of Bt320 billion (US$10.7 billion) will be needed as subsidy for the Thai government’s rice pledging scheme in the new harvest seasons, a senior Commerce Minister official said today.

Permanent secretary for commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said the new funding will be to purchase Bt200 billion of rice from the annual crop and Bt100 billion from the second harvest.

The figure of the new round for the subsidy was reached today in a meeting between the Commerce Ministry and the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives which work on revolving fund and financial framework for the rice pledging scheme.

Ms Vatchari said severe drought in certain farming areas will probably lower this year’s yields from the second harvest to six million tonnes.

Subsidy for the new round of rice pledging should not exceed Bt300 billion which is lower than last year’s Bt330 billion, she said, adding that Bt140 billion for the new injection will be allocated by the Public Debt Management Office while the rest will be contributed from the government-to-government rice trading in the 2011-2012 harvest.

The Commerce Ministry made Bt180 billion for the government-to-government rice deals, she said.

Ms Vatchari said the conclusion from today’s meeting will be submitted to the Rice Policy Committee in mid-month for a final decision. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-03-04

Thailand must be rich. They can spend hundreds of billions on populism.

I come from a Western European country but we don't have so much money to play with.

How about focusing on moving jobs away from agriculture towards innovation and services? Improving education and encouraging entrepreneurship?

Just keep the money coming.....!!! I wish I was a rice man !!

There will soon be so much rice stored, that it will need a fleet of super tankers to move it.....to say nothing of the trucks and trains to ship it to the wharf.

Something must give.....it's an insane policy that, apart from making many people unusually wealthy in a very short time, must surely begin to jeopardise this countrys' credibility sooner or later.

The UN is well aware of the current stocks stored and it may well be the next buyer....hopefully something will happen.

The Commerce Ministry made Bt180 billion for the government-to-government rice deals, she said.

If they sold that much worth of last seasons rice and have the money to pay out for the new seasons crop why are the warehouses still full?

A fifth of the national budget bet on rice, I thought gambling is not permitted here. They shed reality here, day by day. It seems to get normal also in 3rd world coutries to count only in billions!

Thailand must be rich. They can spend hundreds of billions on populism.

I come from a Western European country but we don't have so much money to play with.

Yes, but when we did have money we also had butter mountains and wine lakes.

Let's hope the same will happen here.

How about focusing on moving jobs away from agriculture towards innovation and services? Improving education and encouraging entrepreneurship?

Don't be silly. How can the stinking rich stay stinking rich if there aren't any dirt poor?

When will the insanity stop?

Seems like being elected is just a license to print money

They can make the world's largest plate of Kao Put! Dig in boys, we're going to be eating this for a looooong time!

This is nothing short of insane :-) However, Thais are famous for borrowing money without worrying about paying the loans back!

That's the price you pay for propping up an industry that can't support it's farmers on a level playing field, however having said that, in emerging economic countries , farmers haven't the luxury of alternative work or obtaining Uni degree's, most of Thailand's farmers would be buggered if it wasn't for these handouts.

Just keep the money coming.....!!! I wish I was a rice man !!

There will soon be so much rice stored, that it will need a fleet of super tankers to move it.....to say nothing of the trucks and trains to ship it to the wharf.

Something must give.....it's an insane policy that, apart from making many people unusually wealthy in a very short time, must surely begin to jeopardise this countrys' credibility sooner or later.

The UN is well aware of the current stocks stored and it may well be the next buyer....hopefully something will happen.

What do you mean soon? It takes a large fleet of super tankers to move the 10+ million tonnes stored already.

So we have the Muslim bank and SME Bank in big trouble. The BAAC witch has been shouldering this rice scam sheme since day one, witch said they are out of money to continue, because the the Govt has not yet payed up.

The three remaining, state owned banks, will now have to "pony up." I guess.

Good thing Yingluk has appointed her Redshirt criminals businessmen to manage all these Banks. For the sake of the poor farmers of course.

http://www.asianewsnet.net/news-36095.html

In September and October, seven Thai state enterprises will get new
chiefs - Thai Airways International (THAI), Krung Thai Bank, MCOT, TOT,
Government Savings Bank, Islamic Bank of Thailand and Small and Medium
Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank).

The Commerce Ministry made Bt180 billion for the government-to-government rice deals, she said.

As as we promised transparency, soon, real soon now, we'll provide details on tonnage, price and profits. Just be patient. A slight delay was caused by a virus in the PanthipPlaza version of Excel we were using (insert honest face here)

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2013-03-01

Rice-pledging "will change"

In the first year, the government ended up spending more than Bt400 billion on the scheme for the pledging of 6.99 million tonnes.

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Commerce Ministry needs Bt320 billion for new round of rice subsidy

A new injection of Bt320 billion will be needed as subsidy for the Thai governments rice pledging scheme in the new harvest seasons, a senior Commerce Minister official said today.

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it better not change...

Thai rice farmers threaten protest if intervention price cut

Thai farmers vowed on Monday to stage a major protest after the government signalled it was weighing a plan to cut rice intervention prices by a tenth, in another sign that the state could be running short of funds for the scheme.

Thailand's generous rice subsidy scheme has won the support of millions of rural voters, but has generated huge grain stockpiles, sparked graft allegations, and unnerved markets.

"We have sent our letter to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that we don't agree to cut the intervention price,"said Vichien Phuanglamjiak, Vice-President of the Thai Rice Farmers Association, which represents 700 to 800 farmers. "And if we don't get an appropriate response, we will stage a protest and it would be a big one."

Continued:

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/thai-rice-farmers-threaten-protest-if-intervention-price-cut-20130304

-- Reuters 2013-03-03

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Let it go. The sane ones amongst us can see what is happening. The fools who put these people into power have given their minds and souls to the destruction of Thailand but they are too stupid to figure it out. There is nothing we in TV here can do about it so let's just watch the insanity continue and read the excuses when it all goes pear shaped. We as farang here have no rights, no rights whatsoever so what can we do? Teach them a lesson? No ... som num na.

Did someone mention something about HUB or rice? A 10m tone of rice would set a world record in "fried rice". China couldnt even break that record.

That's the price you pay for propping up an industry that can't support it's farmers on a level playing field, however having said that, in emerging economic countries , farmers haven't the luxury of alternative work or obtaining Uni degree's, most of Thailand's farmers would be buggered if it wasn't for these handouts.

Trouble is, it's the same in many western countries and that is one of the reasons that Thai farmers can't compete.

In the West, it is common for farmers to be paid to not grow stuff.

With this going on, farmers in developing nations will always need a handout.

A new injection of Bt320 billion (US$10.7 billion) will be needed as subsidy for the Thai government’s rice pledging scheme

That's not an injection, that's a <deleted> blood transfusion.

This is insane. The policy has clearly failed, the farmers who put PT in power and who were supposed to be given a better life through this barking mad policy have not benefited that much and the scheme is bankrupting the country. How can PT push on with this, they gain nothing from it unless, ha ha, they are skimming/raking in profits from it somehow. Surely that cannot be the case, only gangsters could be that stupid.

But the real story is the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural (BAAC)
Cooperatives. The debt incurred by the BAAC in its rice, and other crop,
price intervention scheme alone now stands at Bt601,072 billion - equal
to half a percentage point of the country's GDP. In the end, the
government will have to fiscalise the debt of the state-owned banks. We
are seeing fresh figures of almost Bt700,000 billion already.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Rectify-financial-imbalances-before-its-too-late-30200937.html

I think the THB 320 billion to be somewhat correct with over the last six months or so ever higher amounts to be loaned and/or paid to BAAC. Storage only seems to be in the order of 35 billion a year. Note that with the THB 320 billion and the 180 billion 'earned' through G2G deals we would get to a total of THB 500 billion.

Please remember that in October 2012 PM Yingluck said
"Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reasserted today that her governments financial spending for the rice pledging scheme is strictly disciplined under the Bt400 billion budget earlier approved by the cabinet."
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/591489-yingluck-hits-back-at-charges-of-bankruptcy-resulting-from-rice-scheme/

I think it must be 32 billion baht not 320....

The whole crop per year isn't worth that much..

They were hoping no one would notice.

I think it must be 32 billion baht not 320....

The whole crop per year isn't worth that much..

That's why this scheme is so insane. They are paying way over the odds and, despite the BS PT spins about government to government deals, they can't sell it. Slowly rotting away, a suitable metaphor for what PT is allowing to happen in this country.

I think it must be 32 billion baht not 320....

The whole crop per year isn't worth that much..

They were hoping no one would notice.

Rumbled!

really folks

After the licking the PT took in the Bangkok election does any wonder as I do if they will reexamine their policies.

It was fairly obvious that they were not wanted. Unlike the general election where there was only a 4% spread on their win. In Bangkok it was a 15% spread in their loss.

I bet they are thinking they should not have made it into a PT national issue and just let the candidates stand on their own merits.

Sort of sad really.. This is like a slow motion train wreck, and

the ending is not going to be pretty. Hopefully when this happens,

there will be some stories about who benefited from this insanity.

But having been here a long time, I suspect this will not happen.

If they don't limit the volume, they are heading for a biiiiig mess. Unless, the entire Chinese stock is mysteriously wiped out by some act of God.

Not a loss when u r buying a country. And it would be no surprise if the Gov to Gov contracts went to somewhere in Arabia.

Anyone remember when Thaksin was pushing mega rice farms paid for buy hid mid eastern mates?

Get em on yer side, then drop them, then let yer rich mates buy it all up cheap.

Been saying this since the clan got in.

Wanna argue? Let's start with why cheap first homes and cars?