Rice back at Bt15,000

[belg]

great poilitics in the works

we deceided that the scam will go on... make some more billionairs up north...

luxery cars need to be funded with something

[ttwitt]

Politics as usual.

It portrays a government in total control with foresight and sensible forward planning not one simply reeling from crisis to crisis!

i see it more as a govt creating crisises that they can reel between.> Politics as usual.

[KireB]

Mark these words - Rice will never go below 15'000 Baht. Now the government has buckled, the farmers have learned that they hold the keys to office and all they need to do is the same again, in a similar situation and the government will be forced into relenting or risk alienating their entire support base.

It will, right after the next election!

[webfact]

Thai government reverses rice price cut

BANGKOK, July 2, 2013 (AFP) - Thailand's government was set Tuesday to reverse a cut to the price it gives farmers for rice, a fortnight after stoking anger from its rural heartlands by announcing a 20 percent reduction in the fee.

The so-called rice-pledging scheme has dogged the government since its introduction shortly after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's election victory in 2011.

Critics say the scheme is a costly sop to her government's rural voters, is riddled with corruption and has caused the commodity's price to surge -- knocking the kingdom from its place as the world's top rice exporter.

Ahead of a cabinet meeting expected to formally reinstate a 15,000 baht ($485) per ton price, Yingluck said she was "willing to help farmers but farmers must also be willing to help the government" stabilise the cost of the kingdom's rice.

Two weeks ago the government said it would cut the price by 3,000 baht, enraging farmers.

Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong on Monday said the government was restoring the price for "more than 200,000 farmers with 2.9 million tons of unharvested rice".

The price would be paid until September 15, when the harvest is expected to be completed, he added.

The country has paid its farmers around 50 percent more than the market value for rice since 2011 in an effort to boost incomes in the poor countryside who traditionally support the ruling party.

Rice farmers welcomed the decision and dropped threats to hold protests that would have deeply embarrassed the ruling party.

"We will not rally now," Prasit Boonchoey chairman of The Rice Farmers' Association told AFP.

But rice exporters reacted angrily to the decision, having struggled to sell expensive stockpiles of the commodity.

"It's back to square one. There is nothing we can do... it is a political issue." said Chookiat Ophaswongse, President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

International rice markets "are laughing" at the Thai government after it announced "the new price but in two weeks changed it again", he added.

This year Thailand is forecast to buy 22 million tons of the grain at a cost of up to 500 billion baht.

Since Thailand began buying rice at inflated prices it has been overtaken by both India and Vietnam as a global rice exporter.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-07-02

[pb1936]

Completely different figures every day, none of which are likely to be any where near the truth. Mr Moody must be preparing another downgrade.

[tartempion]

My gf's parents ran out of rice two days ago.

They are too old now to cultivate their rice field and it are some of their children who seed, plant and harvest.

I don't know how production is shared by the family members, don't think any gets sold.

Thus today we went to the local rice mill to buy a bag of sticky rice, 1380B, 49 kg so they have rice to eat with the tree leaves (they were chopping bamboo when we brought the rice).

Make this 1 tonne (1000kg?) and selling price is 28163B per tonne.

I don't think the rice mill paid 15k/tonne to the farmer. Isn't sticky rice inferior quality?

I do know nothing how farmers rice is handled before it gets into 49kg bags, any one knows?

[Issangeorge]

Remember it takes about twice as much unmilled rice to make milled rice, so that means that the unmilled cost was just over ฿14,000 a tonne. The mill has to make a profit so you can be darn sure the farmer didn't get ฿15,000 a tonne.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rubl]

Second crop 2.9m tonnes and total for 2012/2013 22m tonnes, all costing up to 345 billion?

On the 15th last month we had Office of the PM Minister Varathep say "Bt155 billion was spent to buy 9.9 million tonnes of rice in the 2012/13 first harvest season but the final calculations have yet to be completed." As 2011/2012 second season saw 14.6m tonnes costing 218 billion, I expect a similar tonnage for 2012/2013 second season which would also make 22m tonnes and 345 billion totals more likely.

So, 2011/2012 352 billion, 2012/2013 345 billion. Still waiting for details on how losses occurred.

[rametindallas]

Are you waiting for the other one to drop?

[rametindallas]

I do hope this is not an example of the strong leadership we can expect now that the PM is also in charge of the military.

This is probably why the military doesn't mind that she is Defense Minister, she is a 'pushover'.

[rametindallas]

My gf's parents ran out of rice two days ago.

They are too old now to cultivate their rice field and it are some of their children who seed, plant and harvest.

I don't know how production is shared by the family members, don't think any gets sold.

Thus today we went to the local rice mill to buy a bag of sticky rice, 1380B, 49 kg so they have rice to eat with the tree leaves (they were chopping bamboo when we brought the rice).

Make this 1 tonne (1000kg?) and selling price is 28163B per tonne.

I don't think the rice mill paid 15k/tonne to the farmer. Isn't sticky rice inferior quality?

I do know nothing how farmers rice is handled before it gets into 49kg bags, any one knows?

Sticky rice is not part of the pledged rice program nor is it inferior quality; it's just a different strain with different characteristics from long-grain rice. The mills have gotten so greedy they are taking advantage of everyone they can. The mills have a monopoly in their areas as the farmers may not shop around to other mills for the best purchase price. You are seeing pure, naked greed. Very sad for everyone.

[NeverSure]

Mark these words - Rice will never go below 15'000 Baht. Now the government has buckled, the farmers have learned that they hold the keys to office and all they need to do is the same again, in a similar situation and the government will be forced into relenting or risk alienating their entire support base.

I had to "like" this. But the program and the government are broke, so a day of reckoning is coming. I would say something more like "it won't go below 15,000 baht until the scheme bankrupts the government."

When this new season is over, I think from all I read that the government will be in debt for all of it over the years a sum approaching 1 trillion baht. And that money is due now. What they are deliberately doing is failing to sell the rice. By not selling it, they can claim it's worth 15,000 baht. If they sell it at market, then they have to put the losses on the books at the Ag Bank and somehow pay the difference, which they can't do. The rice is the collateral for the loans at the Ag Bank, and as long as the rice is "worth" 15,000 baht, it's a "good" loan.

Mark the rice to market (make entries to the bank books showing the actual value of the collateral) and the whole thing is belly up and the government can't pay it. Ever.

[Thai at Heart]

On the front page of the other paper, they talk of how a mill can keep paddy for up to 50 days before it is milled and transferred.

.

When they finally open the warehouses, there isn't going to be half the rice they expect. The same rice will have been sold 20 times.

[OzMick]

I have to worry about the value of democracy in Thailand when a political party panders to a (admittedly large) voting block to gain power, and then after the policy turns out to be a financial disaster, is forced to continue it by the threat of withdrawal of support - to the detriment of the country as a whole.

That worry is enhanced when I see the financial drain ending up in the pockets of wealthy government members and supporters, and not the "poor farmers" it was supposed to help. Many of these "poor farmers" have planted crops marginal at best, and face economic pain if the policy is discontinued - but should the country pay for poor economic decisions based on even poorer policy?

In modern democracy, voters elect representatives who are supposed to govern in the best interests of the nation. When they are making decisions clearly to the detriment, but benefiting themselves both financially and in retaining power, clearly the system is not working.

[Mosha]

Mark these words - Rice will never go below 15'000 Baht. Now the government has buckled, the farmers have learned that they hold the keys to office and all they need to do is the same again, in a similar situation and the government will be forced into relenting or risk alienating their entire support base.

I had to "like" this. But the program and the government are broke, so a day of reckoning is coming. I would say something more like "it won't go below 15,000 baht until the scheme bankrupts the government."

When this new season is over, I think from all I read that the government will be in debt for all of it over the years a sum approaching 1 trillion baht. And that money is due now. What they are deliberately doing is failing to sell the rice. By not selling it, they can claim it's worth 15,000 baht. If they sell it at market, then they have to put the losses on the books at the Ag Bank and somehow pay the difference, which they can't do. The rice is the collateral for the loans at the Ag Bank, and as long as the rice is "worth" 15,000 baht, it's a "good" loan.

Mark the rice to market (make entries to the bank books showing the actual value of the collateral) and the whole thing is belly up and the government can't pay it. Ever.

If they sell it a such a loss ie what they paid for it. Isn't that dumping?

[NeverSure]

Mark these words - Rice will never go below 15'000 Baht. Now the government has buckled, the farmers have learned that they hold the keys to office and all they need to do is the same again, in a similar situation and the government will be forced into relenting or risk alienating their entire support base.

I had to "like" this. But the program and the government are broke, so a day of reckoning is coming. I would say something more like "it won't go below 15,000 baht until the scheme bankrupts the government."

When this new season is over, I think from all I read that the government will be in debt for all of it over the years a sum approaching 1 trillion baht. And that money is due now. What they are deliberately doing is failing to sell the rice. By not selling it, they can claim it's worth 15,000 baht. If they sell it at market, then they have to put the losses on the books at the Ag Bank and somehow pay the difference, which they can't do. The rice is the collateral for the loans at the Ag Bank, and as long as the rice is "worth" 15,000 baht, it's a "good" loan.

Mark the rice to market (make entries to the bank books showing the actual value of the collateral) and the whole thing is belly up and the government can't pay it. Ever.

If they sell it a such a loss ie what they paid for it. Isn't that dumping?

When did Thailand ever follow the rules? If they really wanted to be selling rice, they'd sell it.

The bottom line is still that the moment they sell it, its real value surfaces, and their revolving fund loan at the Ag Bank is tits up.