Thailand to resume selling rice to Indonesia under G2G contracts
The Thai Government plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to sell 1 million tonnes of rice a year in a government-to-government (G2G) deal with Indonesia late this month.
Thai rice sold at a supermarket in Bangkok on March 4, 2020 (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai Government plans to sign a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) to sell 1 million tonnes of rice a year in agovernment-to-government (G2G) deal with Indonesia late this month.
The Bangkok Post on March 11 quoted Commerce Minister JurinLaksanawisit as saying that the MoU signing will be organised in the final weekof March, covering no more than one million tonnes of white rice 15 to 25percent broken a year for four years.
However, the rice sales also include conditions, dependingon the rice production of the two countries and the world rice price.
Thailand sold a total of 925,000 tonnes of rice under G2Gcontracts to Indonesia under the previous agreement from 2012 to 2016.
Over the past five years, no G2G rice deals between the twocountries were carried out, as the Indonesian Government initiated aself-sufficiency policy with regard to rice and promoted domestic riceproduction.
Nonetheless, Indonesia has still faced a shortage ofdomestic rice supplies in some years due to natural disasters. The COVID-19 pandemicalso prompted Indonesia to import more rice to serve domestic demand and tostabilise domestic rice prices.
Last year, Thailand exported a total of 89,406 tonnes ofrice to Indonesia, up 46.3 percent from the previous year, with value totalling2.262 billionTHB, up 86.7 percent.
Jurin said Thailand is also in talks for a similar G2G ricedeal with the Bangladesh government for one million tonnes of white rice andparboiled rice./.
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Thai rice sold at a supermarket in Bangkok on March 4, 2020 (Photo: AFP/VNA) 
