The commerce ministry insists it has no plans to approve the hike for bagged rice given that production costs have yet to increase.

Commerce Ministry Spokesman Chatchai Chookaew said there has been no endorsement for an increase in the price of bagged rice by 5 to 20 baht each, as has been rumored. He said that no suppliers have even submitted a petition for a hike.

Chatchai said the cost of the bagged rice production has yet to go up. The paddy rice price is still not on par with figures from the previous period.

The current jasmine paddy rice price is between 12,800 and 14,000 baht per ton; Pathum fragrant paddy rice prices are between 9,500 to 12,800 baht a ton; white paddy rice prices are between 9,500 to 10,000 baht a ton; and sticky paddy rice prices are at 14,750 baht and 16,000 baht.

Charthcai said the retail rice prices hike are baseless speculation. Providers should not raise their prices, as the current situation does not call for an increase.

President of the Thai bagged rice provider Somkiet Makkahyathorn said the product's prices remain unchanged as the government continues to release additional supplies from its stocks, which helps prevent shortages.

Somkiet said the average price of a five-kilogram bag of rice is between 100 and 130 baht and that jasmine rice prices are between 160 and 200 baht for the same weight bag.

Somkiet stated that the future direction of rice prices cannot be forecast at the moment, but he suggested the recent global demand is very high given the remarkable growth in rice exports over the past two months, while domestic rice production is down.

Source: TANN