Thai govt told to urgently sell stockpiled rice

[Suriya4]

Why pay the farmers with cash.

Just give them back the rice with interest.

Eg. Farmers deposit 1kg, government return 1.1 kg.

[thaiguzzi]

They hadn't thought of this?

What do you expect from this government ...........intelligence ??? I think not ! Wasn't there a question that someone allegedly pocketed 130 million or so a little while ago ?

I'm not a farmer so i don't really comprehend how the yield is so much down from the Vietnemese figure per rai. Isn't the land the same?

No. The land is not the same. Nor is the land the same in Thailand, ie NE, NW, South and central. Irrigation and weather patterns also come into it.

[paddyjenkins]

What exactly did the Thai government ever expect the outcome of the rice scheme to be? By paying more than the market price did the government ever expect anything but a huge loss and if so why did they stockpile the rice to be left to rot? Did they think they would force up the market price, or

think they would cajole the world to pay more for Thai rice, or think if they threatened foreigners "you no pay i boxing you' they would make all their money back?

This whole debacle could be a fantastic case study in understanding Thainess.

[movsrus]

Somehow I don't think Vietnam and India will stand idly aside and let Thailand gain market share. I would expect they would drop the price to maintain share which would only drive the sale price of Thai rice even lower. The next thing they would do is file a complaint with the WTO for dumping and the whole thing will end up in a big fiasco. This whole event is a cess pool and the government is not even close to having a solution for it.

[otherstuff1957]

Thai farmers are in a lose-lose situation here. If the government doesn't sell the rice, they will have to come up with around 100 billion baht from some other source. As they obviously don't have this much cash lying around, they will either have to print more money (which will cause the value of the baht to crash dramatically AND raise the local price for oil products by an equal amount!) or borrow the money, which means that they will have to raise taxes to pay for the loan.

But that is just this year's problem. Next year, the problem will be even worse.

In a few months the next crop will be harvested. Either the government borrows MORE money to pay for that crop, or the farmers will be expected to sell it on the open market. Over the past few years production costs (land rent, fertiliser, etc.) have increased while the market price of rice has not. Selling on the open market will be disaster for many of the smaller farmers.

Then there is the question of what to do with the stored rice. The problem here is that there is so much of it that selling even a large percentage of it will influence the already weak market. It's a simple matter of supply and demand. If the supply of rice on the world market increases further, the price will go down. Thaksin may be a "brilliant businessman" but he cannot control supply and demand curves. So, if the government tries to sell the rice to raise money to pay the farmers for last year's rice, they will be competing will farmers trying to sell rice this year.

If PT had deliberately designed a project that would drive hundreds of thousands of Thai farmers into bankruptcy, they could not have done a better job.

Edited February 9, 2014 by otherstuff1957

[scorecard]

Thai farmers are in a lose-lose situation here. If the government doesn't sell the rice, they will have to come up with around 100 billion baht from some other source. As they obviously don't have this much cash lying around, they will either have to print more money (which will cause the value of the baht to crash dramatically AND raise the local price for oil products by an equal amount!) or borrow the money, which means that they will have to raise taxes to pay for the loan.

But that is just this year's problem. Next year, the problem will be even worse.

In a few months the next crop will be harvested. Either the government borrows MORE money to pay for that crop, or the farmers will be expected to sell it on the open market. Over the past few years production costs (land rent, fertiliser, etc.) have increased while the market price of rice has not. Selling on the open market will be disaster for many of the smaller farmers.

Then there is the question of what to do with the stored rice. The problem here is that there is so much of it that selling even a large percentage of it will influence the already weak market. It's a simple matter of supply and demand. If the supply of rice on the world market increases further, the price will go down. Thaksin may be a "brilliant businessman" but he cannot control supply and demand curves. So, if the government tries to sell the rice to raise money to pay the farmers for last year's rice, they will be competing will farmers trying to sell rice this year.

If PT had deliberately designed a project that would drive hundreds of thousands of Thai farmers into bankruptcy, they could not have done a better job.

And perhaps six months ago the paymaster was quite vocal about keeping the whole scam running well into the future,

[PaullyW]

Just wonderin... what are our Brothers and Sisters in ASEAN doing to help Thailand in its time of need?

Dunno ... watching the on-going train-wreck in horror ?

Or laughing themselves silly ?

The Southeast Asians are down there with the Africans and Chinese when it comes to their compassion for anyone outside of their clans. They are all fiercely backbiting. To help does not even register to them.

[lostinsurin]

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Are you referring to Greece? I thought the sale had been going on for a while now.

[mikemac]

And the government sells the stockpiled rice at a price undercutting the international rice prices, and 10 - 1 on, the dems would complain and file a court case for malfeasance or similar............

Typical idiotic post from fabio, change your bait if you want to get some real good bites, your bait is getting old and stale.

Well I asked him earlier and have not heard back from him on the same post

"simple question

Would they be right or wrong.

Yes or No."

Typical of him drop his load and run.

Yes you are biased. Can't blame you blood is thicker than water.

He drops his load when he runs out of his condescending and occasionally witty retorts, and goes off in search of another PTP related topic to troll.

Getting back to the more important subject of the Surin jasmine rice, it is the first time I have eaten a bowl of cooked rice with nothing added to it, just plain rice, such was the flavor.

Another good rice I remember eating was in PNG years ago when we took two prawn trawlers up there from QLD. The natives who crewed on our boats used to cook their rice in coconut water, try it, tastes a lot better than rice boiled in water.

[Showbags]

Ladies and Gentleman, rice for sale:

tulsathit ‏@tulsathit14h

This may sum rice scheme up. RT @PatricLand: Govt rice warehouse in Lopburi

I can just imagine what unpaid farmers think after seeing that...

Boutique smoked fragrant rice...new hub

[bangon04]

Even if this can be done, how would such a policy be viewed by the World Trade Organization (never mind Vietnam and India)? Wouldn't it be classified as "dumping"? And if it was dumping, how would this affect the Thai government under international law?

Quite likely, and it could result in some countries applying punitive tariffs to Thai rice exports. Happened with shrimp in the past (I'm not sure that one was deserved, but this one would be). US government has already threatened WTO action.

If the price suits China, they will as usual not care what the US thinks, and care little about what the WTO thinks.

[cookee68]

maybe yingluck should sell the one good asset that she does posses, be it that might be rotten like the rice

[jimbeam1]

Govt told to urgently sell stockpiled rice

By Digital Content

BANGKOK, Feb 8 – The caretaker government was recommended to urgently release 18 million tonnes of rice from the state stockpiles to secure money to pay farmers.

Att Pisanwanit, Director of the Center for International Trade Studies (ITS) of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), said the government should accept losses by selling rice at US$350-400 per tonnes, lower than the price currently offered by Vietnam, to earn about Bt200 billion which should be more than sufficient to pay the current Bt130 billion overdue payments.

The government can spend the remaining Bt70 billion raised to help farmers in other agricultural products such as rubber and tapioca, he said.

Mr Att, dean of the UTCC Faculty of Economics, said that in the last decade since the Thaksin Shinawatra government in 2001, the Thai government has allocated a total of Bt1.5 trillion to help farmers and the Yingluck Shinawatra government has become the biggest spender at Bt700 billion, or more than half of budget expenses.

Production costs for Thai farmers between 2006 and 2012 have increased 60 per cent, from Bt4,000/rai to Bt9,000/rai but the yield per rai has not been higher.

Thailand’s yield per rai for rice production is only one-third of the Vietnamese, he said, adding that Thai farmers produce 450 kg of rice per rai while the Vietnam’s rice production is one tonne per rai.

Mr Att said the government should adjust its long-term assistance policy for farmers by refraining from rice trading intervention and offering appropriate assistance options for farmers. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2014-02-08

Sorry, but I think the government has bright enough brains to figure out this at their own. They are not totally embissiles.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Do they glow in the dark.

jb1

[rametindallas]

They hadn't thought of this?

What do you expect from this government ...........intelligence ??? I think not ! Wasn't there a question that someone allegedly pocketed 130 million or so a little while ago ?

I'm not a farmer so i don't really comprehend how the yield is so much down from the Vietnemese figure per rai. Isn't the land the same?

No. The land is not the same. Nor is the land the same in Thailand, ie NE, NW, South and central. Irrigation and weather patterns also come into it.

In my opinion, the yields are far lower in Thailand because, since the government is paying 40% above market price for rice of ANY quality, the farmers are now growing rice on land that is unsuitable for rice.

[Robby nz]

I see it reported elsewhere that the latest move by the C T Govt is to try to issue bonds then force the lottery board, the Govt pension fund and the social security fund to buy them.

This has been likened to robbing the piggy bank of the workers.

Look for a new lot of protests from those that they are attempting to rob.

[peterquixote]

Its very bad. We just had to send some more money to Maha Sarakhmam my father in law village.

They would have no money at all if we did not send.

We desperately need the money ourselves here in New Zealand

but how can you turn a blind eye to your parents maybe starving.

In the end you stop feeling angry and just feel anxious.