Thailand and the Philippines have reached agreement on the Philippines' annual tariff-free rice quota, with the Philippines permitting imports of 367,000 tonnes of Thai rice, including 50,000 tonnes of premium-grade rice, says Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot.

The countries will sign a memorandum of understanding at the upcoming Asean Economic Ministers Retreat meeting in Malaysia this weekend. The negotiations had stalled for months as the Philippines earlier refused to include premium-grade rice as 100% white rice and 5% white rice in the quota.

The Philippines must compensate Thailand for not meeting its tariff target under the Asean Free Trade Agreement.

The quota will be implemented for four years until 2014 but actual imports will depend on demand from the Philippines. The Foreign Trade Department will talk directly with the Philippines National Food Authority in government-to-government sales.

The Philippines last year imported about 2 million tonnes of rice, which was mainly low-grade rice from Vietnam. From Thailand it imported 138,000 tonnes - 68,000 tonnes of 25% white rice, 52,000 tonnes of sticky rice, 7,100 tonnes of Hom Mali rice, 6,700 tonnes of parboiled rice and 4,200 tonnes of Pathum Thani white rice.

With the resolution of this issue, Thailand is now ready to ratify the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga), which has items covering tariff and non-tariff elements, as well as sanitary issues, measures pertaining to the health of plants, customs procedures and trade facilitation. Its stipulations are part of efforts to create the broader Asean Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.

Mr Alongkorn said Asean would discuss investment liberalisation under the Asean Comprehensive Investment Agreement, especially in light of backtracking by some members, who have proposed extending the reservation list. Indonesia, for instance, has added a reservation for investment in agriculture-related industries, he said. The list currently features 130 reserved businesses, 25 of them specified by Thailand.

Source: Bangkok Post