Rice board adjusts rice pledging price to 13,000 baht from 11,525 baht/tonne

[webfact]

Rice board adjusts rice pledging price to 13,000 baht from 11,525 baht/tonne

 

 

BANGKOK: -- The Rice Policy and Management Committee or the rice board has agreed to adjust up the pledging price of 2016-17 main crop Hom Mali paddy from 11,525 baht/tonne to 13,000 baht/tonne under the programme to delay the sale of paddy through credit extension to be implemented immediately until February 28.

 

The five-month programme which will help about two million Hom Mali rice farmers covering an area of 26 million rai will cost the government 20 billion baht in expenditure budget.

 

Under the programme, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives will accept paddy pledged by farmers at a fixed price of 9,500 baht/tonne or 90 percent of market price estimated at 11,000 baht/tonne. On top of that, farmers will receive 2,000 baht/tonne for quality improvement fee plus 1,500 baht/tonne for storage fees for farmers who have their own barns to store the pledged paddy with the first 1,000 baht to be paid immediately to farmers and the rest to be paid when the paddy is redeemed.

 

For farmers who do not have their own facility to store paddy, they will receive 9,500 baht/tonne for the paddy plus 2,000 baht/tonne for rice quality improvement fee.

 

Prime Minister Prayut Cha-ocha who chaired the rice board meeting on Tuesday said farmers who do not have their own barns or warehouses to store paddy can sell their crops to the market and receive an extra of 2,000 baht/tonne for quality improvement fee to be transferred to their bank accounts by the BAAC.

 

He insisted that the board had consulted legal experts who said the programme could be legally launched because it was not a programme to receive pledging of every grain of rice and also the rice pledged would not be kept in government’s storage facilities.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/rice-board-adjusts-rice-pledging-price-to-13000-baht-from-11525-bahttonne/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2016-11-02

[OMGImInPattaya]

This 13k price doesn't seem much different to Yingluck's 15k rice pledging scheme price...so will this government rice-price support scheme be deemed illegal at some point in the future too...sorta goes to prove the current prosecution is purely a political one.

[kotsak]

Another round of lining the pockets.. Hoes and mia nois rejoice!

[jaidam]

So it must be time to stop the witch hunt against Yingluck, and scrap the asset seizure move? The  juntas rice pledging = good, and phuathai pledging scheme = bad will be a tough sell. no fan of the clan rouge, but ending double standards is one of the juntas raisons d'etre.

 

[williamgeorgeallen]

wasnt this tried before? price is down, that should mean less will be produced in the future to help the price come back up. what the govt is doing does not allow the balancing system to work properly. in fact it stimulates more production driving the price down further.

[Emster23]

2 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

wasnt this tried before? price is down, that should mean less will be produced in the future to help the price come back up. what the govt is doing does not allow the balancing system to work properly. in fact it stimulates more production driving the price down further.

"All politics is local" and "the future is now".... 

".. the programme could be legally launched because it was not a programme to receive pledging of every grain of rice and also the rice pledged would not be kept in government’s storage facilities. "

 Failed to mention with Article 44 government can basically do anything it darn well pleases to do.

[Bob12345]

If the price stays down the current government will just claim that all rice they bought was already there from YL and blame her. 

nobody knows how much rice they have already or what it is worth, so why stop cooking the books now?

[Cook my sock]

The reputation for Thai rice quality has been severely damaged.
I don't understand why the junta didn't just sell the surplus cheap last year and at least create demand this year. The situation now is that there's still millions of tons of surplus rice unsold because deals fell through at the last minute. This rice is oversprayed to keep it from going off. Full of chemicals.
Rice prices are at a low and Farmer's are suffering

[OMGImInPattaya]

57 minutes ago, Cook my sock said:

The reputation for Thai rice quality has been severely damaged.
I don't understand why the junta didn't just sell the surplus cheap last year and at least create demand this year. The situation now is that there's still millions of tons of surplus rice unsold because deals fell through at the last minute. This rice is oversprayed to keep it from going off. Full of chemicals.
Rice prices are at a low and Farmer's are suffering

If the government really wanted to raise farmer's incomes, and remove some rice tonnage from the market, they would give direct payments to farmers who agree to fallow some of their land. However, one suspects that helping farmers is not the real goal of these rice price support schemes.

[LivinLOS]

2 legs good.. 4 legs bad.. 

[BuaBS]

If prices on international markets stay low , Thai rice export is going in the crapper. More warehouses full of rice ... only the Thai will eat the more expensive rice. Good idea Rice Board.

[Jonmarleesco]

They are penalising Yingluck for responsibility  over the last government doing much the same thing. And the government isn't going to pay anything; the taxpayers, of which there are few, will be doing the paying.

 

When the hell is someone going to explain to the farmers that rice, like any product, is subject to the laws of supply and demand, not that of the three monkeys?

 

Long past time to diversify.

[Jonmarleesco]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Prayut Cha-ocha ... insisted that the board had consulted legal experts who said the programme could be legally launched because it was not a programme to receive pledging of every grain of rice and also the rice pledged would not be kept in government’s storage facilities.

Say what he likes, it's still taxpayer-funded populism.

[greenchair]

I just am having trouble understanding his / her rice scheme comparison. Am I missing something? ??

Isn't it the same thing? ??

Where's halloween to explain? ?

[SoilSpoil]

If the farmers go bust, the country will go bust. Same concept as why banks in the US or Greece are bailed out with taxpayers money. Just imagine what would happen if half a million farmers will lose their land and income. Thailand is predomonantly a agro economical society, so the farmers are the backbone of this country.

 

Only way forward is reform, diversification, education, honest business practices (fair trade) and law enforcement. Good luck.

Edited November 2, 2016 by SoilSpoil

[Ricardo]

12 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

This 13k price doesn't seem much different to Yingluck's 15k rice pledging scheme price...so will this government rice-price support scheme be deemed illegal at some point in the future too...sorta goes to prove the current prosecution is purely a political one.

 

Just to point out that, for the Hom Mali grade of rice referred to in the OP, she promised B20k/ton  ...  the B15k was for ordinary rice.

 

You'll agree that B13k is substantially less than B20k per ton ?

[OMGImInPattaya]

32 minutes ago, Ricardo said:

 

Just to point out that, for the Hom Mali grade of rice referred to in the OP, she promised B20k/ton  ...  the B15k was for ordinary rice.

 

You'll agree that B13k is substantially less than B20k per ton ?

Sure...like for like. Maybe the relevant  comparison is the premium over market price...that 13k price is almost 3x current market prices. What was the premium under YS's scheme?

 

However, my main point is that all Thai governments meddle in the rice market and policy differences between successive governmentshould shouldn't be criminalized . Otherwise policymakers will never act. 

Edited November 2, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[Cook my sock]

I'll stick to egg noodles. I don't trust rice products right now

[Ricardo]

1 minute ago, Cook my sock said:

I'll stick to egg noodles. I don't trust rice products right now

 

Yes, a cynic might well ask, where exactly those stocks of warehoused ageing rice are going, it can't all be to dog-food or Chinese prisons.

 

One might hope that they're not being trickled-back, onto the domestic-market, while subsequent new-crop rice is exported.

[sujoop]

2 hours ago, greenchair said:

I just am having trouble understanding his / her rice scheme comparison. Am I missing something? ??

Isn't it the same thing? ??

 

No.

Here's just a sample amongst 853 Yingluck/Thaksin rice scheme corruption cases - this one involves:
Faked rice deal  links a red-shirt leader and a Yingluck Pheu Thai party MP and a Thaksin crony insider:
 
Dummy firm tied to govt figures
*Guangzhou-based GSSG Import and Export Corporation, was actually represented by a Thai man called Rathanit Sojirakul, who later authorised Phichit-based Nimon Rakdi to (sign) a contract to purchase 5 million tonnes of rice on the company’s behalf. ...Rathanit was a close aide to Pheu Thai MP Rapeephan Phongruangrong, who is the wife of red-shirt leader Arisman Phongruangrong. ...Rathanit, who claimed to be the authorised representative of the Chinese firm, only has Bt64.63 in his bank account...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/politics/aec/30195106
 
Telling comment from Yingluck's (Thaksin's) Commerce minister:
“(After buying the rice) I won’t be investigating what buyers do with it,” he said.
 
So what did happen to the rice in this supposedly 'innocent normal subsidy deal'?
 
*The G-to-G deal was a fake because no rice was exported to the Chinese firm. Instead, the huge amount of milled rice was sold locally at below market price by the Foreign Trade Department to a ghost buyer who then sold the rice at market price to the two Thai firms which have their own rice mills and later on the same amount of rice were pledged with the government at pledging prices which are about 40 percent above market price. The gang, it was alleged, made double profits from the same amount of rice.
http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-yingluck-probed-connection-fake-rice-deal/
 
*And ultimately the poorest farmers weren't even part of their program. Yingluck's/Thaksin's  program was a calculated fraud from the outset.

 

However, although the present Govt's program is very limited and  a much lower subsidy (and necessary in reaction to an almost emergency need),  the Govt should just give a subsidy direct to poor farmers and follow-up with extensive re-training programs. Meanwhile, must also un-plug all the Thaksin/Red leaders network of collusive rice millers some way.

[poohy]

You really would think they would learn ? hasn't this been tried before somewhere?

But it must be making money for somebody i would suggest it's this motley crews turn now 

[Xircal]

Compared to other sources Thai rice looks to be overpriced: http://www.riceauthority.com/prices/

 

[Grubster]

13 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

wasnt this tried before? price is down, that should mean less will be produced in the future to help the price come back up. what the govt is doing does not allow the balancing system to work properly. in fact it stimulates more production driving the price down further.

Maybe they should promise a good price for the next miracle crop they come up with so people will give it a try. They did the rubber and got burned, palm oil and got burned,  Corn OK guarantee a good price backed up by Government, if the crop is as good a producer as they say then they won't need the guarantee.

[tbthailand]

Populism creep... 

[Dumbastheycome]

Regardless of real or imagined  motives is it  not better to guarantee a minimum price  for production of  quality rice  rather than to pay farmers to  grow  nothing? Western Govts. have and continue this  method to enhance market prices of  grain crops.

The difference is in the distribution of expenditure.

A zero  producer pockets  all.

A subsidized  producer ( who  will be definitely  be paid in light of  previous disaster)  at least  must need dispend  costs to whatever  degree.

In that process there is some  return to the  taxpayer.

What is ignored  or  unknown in this  subject  is the  difference in the  quality of the  rice.

Also disregarded is the manipulation by international cartels on the  market price  for  many agricultural products primarily destined for export.

In that  situation gluts  and shortages  can be  contrived.

If a  Government chooses  to support primary  producers in the face of such manipulations whether that  be  for populist but  practical  reason who  can really  object?

Or perhaps primary producers  should  adopt the approach that  the price accepted is at the  farm gate and if less  than acceptable it   goes  to compost! And that compost  will also be  available   at the farm  gate !

 

[greenchair]

3 hours ago, sujoop said:

No.

Here's just a sample amongst 853 Yingluck/Thaksin rice scheme corruption cases - this one involves:
Faked rice deal  links a red-shirt leader and a Yingluck Pheu Thai party MP and a Thaksin crony insider:
 
Dummy firm tied to govt figures
*Guangzhou-based GSSG Import and Export Corporation, was actually represented by a Thai man called Rathanit Sojirakul, who later authorised Phichit-based Nimon Rakdi to (sign) a contract to purchase 5 million tonnes of rice on the company’s behalf. ...Rathanit was a close aide to Pheu Thai MP Rapeephan Phongruangrong, who is the wife of red-shirt leader Arisman Phongruangrong. ...Rathanit, who claimed to be the authorised representative of the Chinese firm, only has Bt64.63 in his bank account...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/politics/aec/30195106
 
Telling comment from Yingluck's (Thaksin's) Commerce minister:
“(After buying the rice) I won’t be investigating what buyers do with it,” he said.
 
So what did happen to the rice in this supposedly 'innocent normal subsidy deal'?
 
*The G-to-G deal was a fake because no rice was exported to the Chinese firm. Instead, the huge amount of milled rice was sold locally at below market price by the Foreign Trade Department to a ghost buyer who then sold the rice at market price to the two Thai firms which have their own rice mills and later on the same amount of rice were pledged with the government at pledging prices which are about 40 percent above market price. The gang, it was alleged, made double profits from the same amount of rice.
http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-yingluck-probed-connection-fake-rice-deal/
 
*And ultimately the poorest farmers weren't even part of their program. Yingluck's/Thaksin's  program was a calculated fraud from the outset.

 

However, although the present Govt's program is very limited and  a much lower subsidy (and necessary in reaction to an almost emergency need),  the Govt should just give a subsidy direct to poor farmers and follow-up with extensive re-training programs. Meanwhile, must also un-plug all the Thaksin/Red leaders network of collusive rice millers some way.

 

This government subsidy is about 2000 baht less than the last government. 

And if you think all of this is going to run smoothly along without a few pockets being lined, then very naive that would be. 

If they can't take the bus to hua hin, then they'll take the train. 

It's still going to hua hin. 

[Srikcir]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

will cost the government 20 billion baht in expenditure budget.

Not according to the same Rice Policy and Management Committee.

 

The original plan announced only yesterday wherein farmers would receive 11,525 baht/ton will cost 35.9 billion baht*. Now with the adjustment to 13,000 baht/ton or about a 13% subsidy increase should now cost about 40 billion baht. That's a 200% misrepresentation.

Just a reminder that Prayut is the Chairman of the Rice Policy Committee and cannot be held liable for any such cost to the Thai taxpayers under Article 44.

 

* http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/rice-board-agrees-on-11525-bahttonne-for-hom-mali-grains/

[tbthailand]

20 hours ago, jaidam said:

but ending double standards is one of the juntas raisons d'etre.

That's just their story line... Nothing to it, though, is there?

[Ricardo]

8 hours ago, greenchair said:

 

This government subsidy is about 2000 baht less than the last government. 

And if you think all of this is going to run smoothly along without a few pockets being lined, then very naive that would be. 

If they can't take the bus to hua hin, then they'll take the train. 

It's still going to hua hin. 

 

No, this government's subsidy is about B7,000 less than the last government, unless you want to compare apples with oranges, and claim Hom Mali rice is the same as ordinary rice. I must have posted that correction several times yesterday, there seems to be some confusion about it on this board, although it's clear enough in the OP of the various threads like this one.

 

" the rice board has agreed to adjust up the pledging price of 2016-17 main crop Hom Mali paddy from 11,525 baht/tonne to 13,000 baht/tonne "

 

I fully agree that, wherever there's subsidy being paid, there is also potential for scams like the one sujoop took the trouble to detail, and I'd condemn them if/when they emerge.

 

I do like that the help is going via the BAAC to farmers themselves, rather than politically-connected millers or warehouse-storage people, provided that actually happens as-reported.  And also that the government doesn't actually own the rice itself this time, so any losses are less-likely to fall on the taxpayer, this time round.

[Srikcir]

37 minutes ago, Ricardo said:

the government doesn't actually own the rice itself

Isn't the rice "pledged" to the government by virtue of the government payments?

The distinguishment made by the government that it doesn't own the rice was because it wouldn't be stored in government-owned warehouses. But part of the compensation was for private storage. That seems to be a Rice-a-Roni excuse from not being compared to Yingluck's rice pledge program.

 

For the sake of argument if the government doesn't own the pledged rice - who does? If it's still the farmer, that's a great deal in receiving above market prices for their rice and still able to sell the same rice at market. Or maybe its the warehouses, millers, distributors, etc.?