The Commerce Ministry plans to team up with neighbouring countries in selling farm crops on the global market for mutual benefit.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom has instructed officials at the Foreign Trade Department not to rush selling rice because the country needed to adjust the marketing strategy to differentiate from other rice exporting countries by focusing on quality.

The ministry, however, will try to speed up the rice delivery from millers to the government's stock this month. It expects a total of 2.4 million tonnes of rice from the total of 6 million tonnes of paddy pledged under the government's paddy mortgage scheme.

"Although Thai rice is more expensive than that of other countries, I'm not worried that Thailand can maintain its position as the No.1 rice exporter. The top priority, however, is to ensure farmers can sell rice at a higher price to help boost their earnings and raise their living standard," said Mr Boonsong.

The minister plans to travel to Vietnam next month to discuss the cooperation on rice marketing. Thailand is collaborating with Cambodia on tapioca and rice and working with Myanmar on maize, with the private sector already involved in contracting farming.

Concerning consumers' cost of living, Mr Boonsong said the ministry will not control the price of ready-to-eat food but will only provide information on the suggested retail price and cost structure to allow consumers to make their own judgement.

The Internal Trade Department will double the number of Blue Flag food shops to 8,000 nationwide this year to offer consumers low-priced food.

The Commerce Ministry will try to help find low cost ingredients for participants in this project.

Source: Bangkok post