Chatchai kicks off roadshow in Hong Kong

The government will hold a series of international roadshows in coming months, including in India and Russia, in a bid to speed up sales of Thai rice and other farm products.

As part of the itinerary, Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya is scheduled to fly to Hong Kong today to promote Thai rice and discuss with authorities developing talks on free trade area (FTA) agreements between Asean and Hong Kong, with an eye on implementation in 2016.

Gen Chatchai said his two-day Hong Kong visit would also include the signing of Thai Hom Mali rice purchase contracts between exporters and Hong Kong importers for 100,000 tonnes. This is the biggest lot in many years after Thailand lost market share to competitors because of relatively higher prices during the populist ricepledging scheme.

Commerce Ministry statistics put Thailand’s exports to Hong Kong at 400 billion baht in 2013, making up 5.8% of total exports. Between January and November last year, shipments totalled 374 billion baht, up 2.13% from the same period in 2013.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said Thailand was expected to ship more than 200,000 tonnes of rice this year, up from about 160,000 tonnes in 2014.

Gen Chatchai said ministry officials had been assigned to fly to several target countries this year to stimulate rice sales and dispose of the government’s hefty stocks and find ways to boost trade.

The government said on Tuesday it planned to dispose of 17 million tonnes of rice left in its stockpile within two years, with about 10 million tonnes to be sold this year. This year’s sales plan includes premium-grade rice (60% of the total) to substandard grade (40%).

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Commerce permanent secretary, said authorities expected to call two or three bids for rice sales by March, as no new supplies will be released during the period. This year’s first bid for about 1 million tonnes is scheduled for next Tuesday.

Thailand sold 10.8 million tonnes last year, with rice exports estimated at 10.5-11 million tonnes this year.