Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said yesterday that the road shows would be organized in Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates as well as Maldives. The aim is to sell rice through government-to-government contracts, arrange meetings with rice importers and middlemen, and launch promotion campaigns for Thai hom mali rice (jasmine rice).

Bangladesh, one of the major rice-importing countries, plans to import 700,000 tonnes this year. The country is interested in importing parboiled rice from Thailand.

Earlier, Bangladesh's ambassador in Bangkok, Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, held talks with the ministry's Foreign Trade Department for the purchase 200,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from the government.

In addition, Thailand foresees the UAE as a distribution centre to re-export to other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Porntiva said UAE imports of rice for re-export totaled 560,000 tonnes per year. Of the total, India controls the lion's share of 72 per cent followed by Pakistan at 21 per cent and Thailand 6 per cent.

"The UAE is reducing imports from India because of uncertainty over the country's export-ban policy. As a result, the UAE is considering importing from other sources," Porntiva said.

In addition, the ministry intends to boost exports to Maldives, which imports 40,000 tonnes of rice and wheat per year. Thai rice makes up 1,500 tonnes of the total import.

Porntiva pointed out that Maldives was one of the world's famous tourist destinations, attracting 700,000 premium travelers annually

Source: The Nation