June 7, 2008
Bangkok - The National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC) chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej agreed to temporarily suspend the Blue Flag rice scheme.
The sub-committee on Blue Flag rice scheme confirmed the project did not affect the rice price as only 300,000 bags of rice were offered.
The government previously proposed to support the price of more than 2 million tons of rice. The proposed price was 14,000 baht per ton.
The policy was the market intervention, making the private sector face losses.
Besides, the government could not find the places to release the rice stock and resulted in the problematic rice system.
The price of rice is going to drop in the next 3-4 months as Vietnam and India plan to launch their rice into the market.
Pol Lt Col Banyin Tangpakorn, Deputy Commerce Minister, revealed the Blue Flag rice scheme only benefited some groups of people and made the price rice fall.
He also said the premier kept up with the rice situation himself as it was an urgent issue.
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) was initially assigned to support the rice price.
