Commerce Minister firm on rice deal with China

[webfact]

Commerce Minister firm on rice deal with China
By English News



BANGKOK, Oct 19 – Deputy Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan insisted yesterday that China has promised to buy one million tonnes of rice from Thailand annually.

He reiterated the government-to-government rice deal with China would proceed after criticisms from several quarters which said it would be impossible for the mainland to make such a huge purchase.

Mr Niwatthamrong, concurrently the commerce minister, said he would lead a Thai delegation to China next month to discuss the rice sales with his Chinese counterpart following a recent agreement by leaders of the two countries.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said early this week that her Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang agreed to buy one million tonnes of rice and 200,000 tonnes of rubber from Thailand annually for the next five years.

Mr Niwatthamrong said the Thai government has set a target to sign the rice deal with China as soon as possible or in December at the latest, and Thailand would also offer to sell other agricultural produce including rubber, tapioca, maize and sugarcane.

The two countries have agreed on a barter trade of Thai agricultural produce and China’s high-speed trains, he said.

He said Thailand would sell 1.2 million tonnes of rice to a Chinese state enterprise in Hellongjiang province this month with an agreement to deliver the grains in a year.

Besides, the Thai Rice Exporters Association has signed agreements to export one million tonnes of rice to Chinese state enterprises in the next five year, or 200,000 tonnes annually, he said.

He said Thailand has three rice export agreements with China at a combined export volume of 7.2 million tonnes over five years, and rice in the country’s stockpiles would be sufficient for exports though some were damaged by floods.

He said the Commerce Ministry would urgently hold discussions with the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), which has stopped payments to farmers for their rice sales due to liquidity problem.

The Cabinet has approved a Bt270 billion budget for the rice pledging scheme in the next harvests and it is the duty of the Finance Ministry and BAAC to finance the project and allocate payments to farmers, he said. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-10-19

[NongKhaiKid]

If a politician, especially one in government, ' insists , assures, promises, is adamant ' and so on we can be sure it's BS

[soi41]

Two things Khun Niwatthamrong "forgot" to mention.

1) The deal with China is so far only a handshake. NO contracts signed!!

2) If the deal goes ahead, and China pays worldmarket prices, the yearly loss for Thailand will be at 300-400 million US $ !

I said it before: A government of airheads elected by mushrooms!

[AleG]

The two countries have agreed on a barter trade of Thai agricultural produce and China’s high-speed trains, he said.

So, no bidding, no costs revealed, no feasibility studies to know if it´s actually worth it, no nothing.

Scratch one for PTPs lack of transparency.

[siampolee]

AleG post # 4.

So, no bidding, no costs revealed, no feasibility studies to know if it´s actually worth it, no nothing.

Scratch one for PTPs lack of transparency.

This puppet government under their puppet master and ventriloquist Thaksin are indeed an ingenious story telling troupe of marionettes with a wealth of self convincing set of multi faceted imaginations in which they delude themselves into thinking nay believing that they are the rising stars who are in their view the savior of the Thai people led by their Messiah Thaksin.

In their own minds this belief is unshakable however the greater majority of the population know that this government is no more than a bunch of born again romantics liars focused firmly on one target.

What's in it for me ?

As I have stated before this dangerous troupe of marionettes along with their puppet master and ventriloquists string puller are indeed showing us all that Machiavelli was no more than a bumbling bungling fool

To be sure if lying was an Olympic sport this puppet government team would scoop up all the medals in that category, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals would be festooned on them on their return from ''the Lying Olympics.''

Edited October 19, 2013 by siampolee

[worgeordie]

Might just be a Chinese whisper !

regards Worgeordie

[Om85]

This means that China is gaining more and more political influence in Thailand.

[Ricardo]

It would be nice if the government would repay their existing debts to BAAC under the scam scheme, before the CM/DPM starts making any further comments, about the bank having some sort of 'duty' to make further payments.

Does he not understand, the reason why the bank currently has trouble making further payments as the government wants, is due to their having exhausted their capital, despite already having had their borrowing-limits significantly-extended ?

It is also very interesting to see the CM/DPM saying that "stockpiles would be sufficient for exports though some were damaged by floods". So how much of the massive government-owned stockpiles are flood-damaged, shouldn't the Minister release the figures, and announce what write-off will be needed ? It could be absolutely massive, who knows, until he confirms the figures ? And what will Moody's make of all this ?

Edited October 19, 2013 by Ricardo

[jombom]

Why the reference to mainland --- is to mean ex-Taiwan, ex Hong Kong, or what?

[ratcatcher]

AleG post # 4.

So, no bidding, no costs revealed, no feasibility studies to know if it´s actually worth it, no nothing.

Scratch one for PTPs lack of transparency.

This puppet government under their puppet master and ventriloquist Thaksin are indeed an ingenious story telling troupe of marionettes with a wealth of self convincing set of multi faceted imaginations in which they delude themselves into thinking nay believing that they are the rising stars who are in their view the savior of the Thai people led by their Messiah Thaksin.

In their own minds this belief is unshakable however the greater majority of the population know that this government is no more than a bunch of born again romantics liars focused firmly on one target.

What's in it for me ?

As I have stated before this dangerous troupe of marionettes along with their puppet master and ventriloquists string puller are indeed showing us all that Machiavelli was no more than a bumbling bungling fool

To be sure if lying was an Olympic sport this puppet government team would scoop up all the medals in that category, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals would be festooned on them on their return from ''the Lying Olympics.''

"What's in it for me"

These lines from an old Guy Ritchie movie - Revolver

"Macha: A wise man once told me... there's only one rule in this world, a small question that drives all success. The more a man invests in that question, the more powerful that man will become.

Macha: Can you guess what that question is, Mr. Green?

Macha: What's in it for me?

That is Thaksin's mantra and all the other members of the BNA.

[AleG]

It would be nice if the government would repay their existing debts to BAAC under the scam scheme, before the CM/DPM starts making any further comments, about the bank having some sort of 'duty' to make further payments.

Does he not understand, the reason why the bank currently has trouble making further payments as the government wants, is due to their having exhausted their capital, despite already having had their borrowing-limits significantly-extended ?

It is also very interesting to see the CM/DPM saying that "stockpiles would be sufficient for exports though some were damaged by floods". So how much of the massive government-owned stockpiles are flood-damaged, shouldn't the Minister release the figures, and announce what write-off will be needed ? It could be absolutely massive, who knows, until he confirms the figures ? And what will Moody's make of all this ?

I´ll go out on a limb and pronosticate that the loses due to flooding will be exactly the same amount as the rice that can´t be accounted for through other means.

In other words, a very convinient way to brush under the carpet what´s been stolen, rotten, repledged, smuggled or never existed in the first place.

[Robby nz]

We only have the PM's word that this deal was talked about at all, not a word from China one way or the other.

It would seem strange that such a deal would be agreed on only a day after a MOU had been signed by both Thailand and China (Li was the one who signed) for the purchase of 200k tons a year.

As for the train for rice thing ; this was supposed to ,under present law, be put out for tender and we were told Japan and France were both interested in bidding.

It was also reported that the minister of transport has said that the deal with China is not final and the same rice for trains deal is open to other bidders.

If this is true then it would seem that a condition of bidding for and supplying a High speed rail system is that the bidders accept rice instead of cash as payment.

Don't know about Japan but I cant see France going for that one.

[Baerboxer]

We only have the PM's word that this deal was talked about at all, not a word from China one way or the other.

It would seem strange that such a deal would be agreed on only a day after a MOU had been signed by both Thailand and China (Li was the one who signed) for the purchase of 200k tons a year.

As for the train for rice thing ; this was supposed to ,under present law, be put out for tender and we were told Japan and France were both interested in bidding.

It was also reported that the minister of transport has said that the deal with China is not final and the same rice for trains deal is open to other bidders.

If this is true then it would seem that a condition of bidding for and supplying a High speed rail system is that the bidders accept rice instead of cash as payment.

Don't know about Japan but I cant see France going for that one.

It's the usual PTP thinking. The leader wants China to get the train deal for political reasons. There is a massive rotting stockpile of rice. Selling that rice would incur losses to the government. Bartering fudges and hides the losses, the Chinese get the deal for their, maybe not so high quality trains as Japanese and French equivalents, and the links between the PTP government and China become closer.

Whether high-speed trains are really required, or whether the Chinese have the right quality and best value for money don't come into the equation. If this goes ahead just watch the machinations on route planning etc to make sure certain families are favoured with the land they own etc. It will be heralded as a great PTP achievement, bringing prosperity to the people etc etc - even if it never gets fully completed, and is only partially used by the wealthy and tourists.

This is why PTP want to take loans off budget and spending away from parliamentary examinations. They want to make decisions based on their own agenda with no accountability. This is becoming a good example of how things will work when the boss returns. He knows what's best.

[GentlemanJim]

This means that China is gaining more and more political influence in Thailand.

The Shiniwatra's are Chinese Thai.

[hellodolly]

It would be nice if the government would repay their existing debts to BAAC under the scam scheme, before the CM/DPM starts making any further comments, about the bank having some sort of 'duty' to make further payments.

Does he not understand, the reason why the bank currently has trouble making further payments as the government wants, is due to their having exhausted their capital, despite already having had their borrowing-limits significantly-extended ?

It is also very interesting to see the CM/DPM saying that "stockpiles would be sufficient for exports though some were damaged by floods". So how much of the massive government-owned stockpiles are flood-damaged, shouldn't the Minister release the figures, and announce what write-off will be needed ? It could be absolutely massive, who knows, until he confirms the figures ? And what will Moody's make of all this ? alt=facepalm.gif>

We will never know the loss of rice due to the floods. They won't even tell us the amount of loss due to improper storage. We can only go by the fact that countries will no longer buy it and the Ivory Coast estimated that 20% of their purchase was rotten.

We only have the PM's word that this deal was talked about at all, not a word from China one way or the other.

It would seem strange that such a deal would be agreed on only a day after a MOU had been signed by both Thailand and China (Li was the one who signed) for the purchase of 200k tons a year.

As for the train for rice thing ; this was supposed to ,under present law, be put out for tender and we were told Japan and France were both interested in bidding.

It was also reported that the minister of transport has said that the deal with China is not final and the same rice for trains deal is open to other bidders.

If this is true then it would seem that a condition of bidding for and supplying a High speed rail system is that the bidders accept rice instead of cash as payment.

Don't know about Japan but I cant see France going for that one.

France long ago saw what was happening and dropped out of it. France was offering a quality product and saw that Thailand was not interested in quality so they dropped out.

The two countries have agreed on a barter trade of Thai agricultural produce and China’s high-speed trains,

Food for China and useless low quality trains for Thailand. A deal made in mindless Shinawatra land.

I put in Shinawtra and my spell check said no it said Trashiness.

[ggold]

We only have the PM's word that this deal was talked about at all, not a word from China one way or the other.

It would seem strange that such a deal would be agreed on only a day after a MOU had been signed by both Thailand and China (Li was the one who signed) for the purchase of 200k tons a year.

As for the train for rice thing ; this was supposed to ,under present law, be put out for tender and we were told Japan and France were both interested in bidding.

It was also reported that the minister of transport has said that the deal with China is not final and the same rice for trains deal is open to other bidders.

If this is true then it would seem that a condition of bidding for and supplying a High speed rail system is that the bidders accept rice instead of cash as payment.

Don't know about Japan but I cant see France going for that one.

I don't think any country would go for it if it's rice for trains! Do the Chinese really need to buy 7+ million tonnes of rice for domestic consumption, I thought they grew enough for their needs?

[tominbkk]

The two countries have agreed on a barter trade of Thai agricultural produce and China’s high-speed trains, he said.

So, no bidding, no costs revealed, no feasibility studies to know if it´s actually worth it, no nothing.

Scratch one for PTPs lack of transparency.

Yingluck is so happy and excited about the deal, she went on an Emporium shopping spree!!!!!

Plod zipped around in a long tail boat, without a care about making sure the water went downstream faster.

A very happy day for PTP!!!

[zig]

I don't think any country would go for it if it's rice for trains! Do the Chinese really need to buy 7+ million tonnes of rice for domestic consumption, I thought they grew enough for their needs?

I think there is one additional point that has been missed in all the rice discussions so far. If all these shady deals that this government makes on selling the existing purchased rice in the few following years come true then it will reduce the volume of new rice that Thai farmers will be able to sell in future. There is only so much demand for the rice in the world.

[ggold]

I don't think any country would go for it if it's rice for trains! Do the Chinese really need to buy 7+ million tonnes of rice for domestic consumption, I thought they grew enough for their needs?

I think there is one additional point that has been missed in all the rice discussions so far. If all these shady deals that this government makes on selling the existing purchased rice in the few following years come true then it will reduce the volume of new rice that Thai farmers will be able to sell in future. There is only so much demand for the rice in the world.

One thing is for sure, the Chinese will not pay over the market value for rice, and may even expect a discount on a volume of 7+ million tonnes. Would that amount cover the cost of the trains, It just doesn't sound right to me.

[SjaakNL2013]

What ever happen I hope by the time this hole rice/train thing start rolling the Chinese copy a good design for trains and also build it to western standards. If i see in the car industry their cars look great but if you hit something they fold up like Cola tins. No safety at all build in the concept of the cars.

If trains, with passengers, start derail at high speed and they fold up the same way ..... keep the body bags ready.

But maybe I make worry for nothing. If the Beijing high speed train is a example from their knowledge there will be not much accidents with it. He is more "out of order" then driving around.