Thailand’s rice sector is enduring one of its most difficult periods as a strong baht has made its exports uncompetitive, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, Honorary President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA).
This is a tough year for Thailand’s rice sector due to prolonged droughts in the northeast and strong baht (THB), said Honorary President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association Chookiat Ophaswongse.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is coordinating with other ministries, agencies and associations to organise a range of trade promotion activities, aiming to expand export markets for agricultural products, especially key staples.
Vietnam needs to take new solutions and steps in rice production and export to ensure benefits of businesses and farmers given market-related difficulties forecast for the sector in the whole year, heard a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on June 24.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a working session with ministries and agencies in Hanoi on February 19 to discuss the acceleration of rice purchase as a way to improve income for farmers.
A conference reviewing the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation (VnSAT) Project 2018 took place in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang on January 9.
A seminar on expanding Vietnamese rice exports took place in the Mekong Delta province of Long An on December 21 within the framework of the third Vietnamese rice festival.
A variety of measures to help the Mekong Delta region better respond to climate change and achieve sustainable agricultural production were proposed at a seminar on December 20 in Long An province, part of the third Vietnam Rice Festival.
New regulations included in Decree No.107/2018 ND-CP have helped cut down costs for businesses in market engagement activities and created strong motivation for the improvement of their trading capacity and the promotion of rice exports, said business representatives at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on November 1.
The Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) has inked three contracts to export rice to Malaysia and the US worth nearly 2.5 million USD during an ongoing international rice conference.
The 10th The Rice Trader (TRT) World Rice Conference, the world’s most premier conference focused solely on the rice trade, was opened in Hanoi on October 11.
Vietnamese rice exports are expected to grow stronger by the end of the year after a brief lulling period, said Tran Van Cong, Deputy Director of the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Thai Government has approved a rice aid package worth 97.95 billion THB (2.94 billion USD) for the 2018-19 crop, aiming to encourage farmers to delay their paddy sales and improve harvesting and price quality.
The Agriculture Ministry of Indonesia has allocated 20 trillion rupiah (1.45 billion USD) for the development of post-harvest infrastructure which will be managed by four state-owned enterprises in the food sector in order to absorb farmers’ production.
The Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) will hold a forum for sustainable development of rice industry this month, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported on February 3.
The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has decided to raise its rice export target from 5.2 million tonnes to 5.6 million tonnes, following an increase in rice contracts for the last months of the year.
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