Thai authorities promise to give rice farmers a fair deal

The Commerce Ministry is monitoring the new harvest season of paddy rice and plans to implement support measures in line with the National Rice Policy Committee to help farmers. The Internal Trade Department is monitoring the price of paddy rice for the 2024/25 harvest, which has seen a rise due to decreased stock in rice mills, despite increased moisture content leading to a reduced selling price. The Ministry is organizing commercial markets for paddy rice in 33 provinces to link farmers with rice mills. Loans have been provided to farmers to delay the sale of hom mali paddy rice and to rice farmer organisations to gather rice from farmers and pledge it to the government. The state is also subsidising 3% of the interest on loans for private rice warehouse operators participating in the rice-pledging scheme.

The Commerce Ministry is monitoring the new harvest season of paddy rice, with a plan to implement support measures as approved by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC) to help farmers. Wittayakorn Maneenetr, a spokesman for the Commerce Ministry, said the Internal Trade Department is monitoring the price of paddy rice for the 2024/25 harvest. It was found that around 13.4 million tonnes of paddy rice have been released into the market, or 50% of total production. Rice prices have steadily risen for Thai hom mali fragrant rice paddy, Pathum Thani rice paddy, and mixed-glutinous rice paddy due to a reduction in the amount of stock in rice mills. As of Nov 15, the average price of 15% moisture content rice paddy was 10,550 baht per tonne, up by 500 baht per tonne. However, due to a high amount of rainfall in the Northeast, the moisture content has increased, which resulted in a reduced selling price. Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan has ordered the provincial commercial ...