Rice trading schemes pushed forward

       The government is preparing to buy paddy from farmers starting early next month and will accelerate sales from its huge rice stocks through governmentto-government contracts to stabilise prices, according to Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai.
       She said the ministry would start buying paddy for the 2009-10 main crop from Nov 2, initially in Phitsanulok,Kamphaeng Phet and Nonthaburi, using 20 billion baht from the Thai Khem Kaeng economic stimulus budget.Buying prices would be based on the government's reference prices set at 8,460 baht per tonne for paddy with 15% moisture.
       In light of heavy rains during the last several weeks, local paddy prices have fallen to between 6,000 and 6,500 baht for paddy with moisture exceeding 30%.
       However, exporters said the overall Thai rice prices were not all that bad,with the benchmark Thai white rice now around 14,800 baht per tonne freeon-board, or about 8,400 to 8,500 baht per tonne for paddy of 15% moisture.
       According to Mrs Porntiva, the government plans to sell 950,000 tonnes of rice from its stocks through governmentto-government deals in the remaining two months of this year and would release another 1.77 million tonnes in 2010."Our strategy is to drain rice out of the country in a bid to lift domestic prices during the harvesting season,"she said.
       The government is estimated to have the equivalent of six million tonnes of milled rice, bought from farmers in previous price intervention schemes."We plan to negotiate with several countries,including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Iran," said Mrs Porntiva.
       On Monday, the Philippines said it was in talks to buy at least 250,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand in a governmentto-government deal.
       Thailand was expected to produce around 23.5 million tonnes of rice from its main crop.
       The government had planned to end its rice-buying intervention in favour of a scheme under which it would subsidise farmers without buying grain itself.However, it has been forced to run both schemes in parallel in the face of farmers'protests.
       Mrs Porntiva said to lift rice exports next year, the government planned closer partnerships with private exporters to negotiate with potential buyers including Nigeria, Angola, Libya and Algeria. As of Oct 26, Thailand had exported 7.065 million tonnes of rice worth $4.06 billion. Volume was down 20.7%with value dropping 25.9% from the same period last year.