Thailand and Vietnam have reached an agreement to raise the price of locally produced rice on the world market amid soaring costs for farmers.
The Vietnam deal is the first of its kind, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on said, adding that the two countries would immediately set up special teams to promote the idea in their countries. .
The agreement was reached at the end of recent talks between the two countries over rice export prices, he added.
Alongkorn Ponlaboot, his adviser, was appointed to lead Thailand’s price negotiating team, while the ministry was ordered to hold meetings with farmers’ associations, millers, exporters and other affected groups,” Mr. Chalermchai said.
In upcoming meetings, details of the Thai-Vietnamese rice deal will be discussed so that all parties know what might be done next to raise the price of exported rice, depending on rising costs, he said. -he adds.
“The agreement is the first step of Thailand-Vietnam cooperation to help rice farmers achieve fairer export prices by using the global market pricing mechanism,” Chalermchai said. .
While rice farmers have been largely affected by the twin crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, rice prices on the world market have changed little, he said. said.
Thailand, the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and Vietnam, the second-largest exporter, will join hands to negotiate a reasonable rise in rice prices in the world market, he said.
Last year, India exported the largest volume of rice at 19.55 million tonnes, while Vietnam and Thailand exported 6.24 and 6.12 million respectively, Alongkorn said. .
Thailand has set a target to export 7 million tonnes of rice this year, he added.
See : Increase in rice production and exports in Thailand
About 3.99 million tons of this product, worth 70.34 billion baht, was exported between January and July, which represents a 58.2% increase in quantity compared to the figures of the same period last year, he said.
However, the value of exports only increased by 34.1 percent, he added.
To implement the agreement, Thailand and Vietnam will then work to create a government negotiation mechanism, while trying to convince other rice-exporting countries to join the initiative, he said. -he declares.
“Pushing for fairer prices is a mission and a responsibility of all rice producing and exporting countries,” Mr. Alongkorn said.
“And as climate change affects rice cultivation and its yields around the world, all parties must join hands to ensure global food security.”
Rice farmers might no longer cope with unfair rice prices in the world market if they were left alone without help and cooperation, he added.
While the war between Russia and Ukraine has increased the cost of rice production, rice prices have simply not risen commensurately, he added.
Currently, the production cost of rice cultivation in Thailand has almost doubled to between 7,500 and 8,000 baht (205.54 and 219.24 euros) per ton of rice, compared to only between 4,500 and 5,000 baht (123. 32 and 137 euros) per tonne of rice two years ago, said Pramot Charoensin, president of the Thai Farmers Association.
What farmers really need is government help to reduce production costs and achieve fairer rice prices, he added.
Vietnam is in a better situation than Thailand because labor costs are lower in the rice-growing sector, he added.
Vietnam’s production cost is around US$100 (around 3,600 baht) lower per tonne of rice produced than Thailand’s, he added.
He welcomes Thai-Vietnamese cooperation on rice prices, but warns that India still has the most say in setting rice prices in the world market due to its position as the largest exporter.
Therefore, if Thailand and Vietnam start selling their rice at much higher prices, those rice-buying countries might look to India for rice supplies, he said.
Rangsan Sabaimuang, president of the Thai Rice Mills Association, also favors fairer prices for all parties, but doubts the attempt will ultimately be successful.
“The question is why these oil exporting countries were able to form the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.”
“I would like this to be taken as a model,” he said, referring to the formation of an OPEC-like group to regulate rice prices.
Attempts by different parties on the world stage for fairer prices for agricultural products have never succeeded in the past three or four decades, he said.
Thai-Vietnamese cooperation has therefore become the first step for this cooperation to materialize, he said.
“More competition in the export of rice and agricultural products,” he said.
“Only cooperation will enable rice farmers to survive.
Food safety is a shared responsibility.”
Source : Bangkok Post
