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Farmers association wants guaranteed rice price soon.


The Thai Farmers Association has called for the government to begin its guaranteed-price programme for rice soon, as the domestic price has dropped below Bt8,000 a tonne.

President Prasit Boonchuey yesterday said the TFA had written to Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai urging the launch of guaranteed rice prices as soon as possible.

"The price of white paddy rice has fallen to between Bt7,500 and Bt7,800 a tonne, down Bt500 from July, due to the government ordering rice millers stop polishing rice for the time being," said Prasit.

Rice millers say they cannot purchase any the upcoming new crop, because they have no room to store it. This has led to the fall in price this week, because there's an oversupply of paddy rice in the market, Prasit said.

The Commerce Ministry earlier sent out a letter instructing millers in the government's pledging programme to halt operations, since the National Rice Policy Committee had turned to bidding for paddy rice instead of polished rice like usual.

The government's pledging programme ended last Friday, and 2 million tonnes from the new crop will enter the market this month.

Prasit said to solve the falling rice price, the government must set up a pilot project to include market rice in its guaranteed-price programme.

He said an appropriate guaranteed price was Bt10,000 a tonne. The government should also cancel its order suspending rice polishing, thus allowing rice millers to buy rice from the market.

"If the government does not solve the falling rice price immediately, farmers may gather and block the roads out of frustration from loss of income.

Internal Trade Department director-general Yangyong Phuangrach admitted the end of the pledging programme had caused the rice price to drop.

The government will call for a meeting soon to find ways of addressing the problem, he said.

Source: The Nation

 


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