Thaialnd, other regional rice-producing countries to boost cooperation on rice trade

BANGKOK, April 5 (TNA) - Thailand and other rice-producing countries in Southeast Asia have agreed to boost cooperation on rice trade. Thai Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom told reporters Thursday that Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, representing major rice-producing countries in Southeast Asia, have agreed in the just-ended 20th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related forums in Cambodia to boost their cooperation on rice trade. Boonsong said he, therefore, believes that rice trade between Thailand and the three ASEAN neighbours will further improve in the future, and that Thailand should export at least 8 million tons of rice this year. Surasak Riangkrua, Deputy Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of Foreign Trade, acknowledged, meanwhile, that the European Union (EU) has now lifted its import ban on Thai fresh chicken, which had been in effect since the past outbreak of the avian influenza in 2004; so, Thailand will be able to export fresh chicken to the 27-member EU bloc from July 1 this year. According to the senior official, the EU is satisfied with Thailand's measures to contain the avian influenza and to upgrade Thai laboratories based on international standards. Besides, Thailand has been free of an avian influenza epidemic for over three years. The senior Thai official assessed that the resumption of fresh chicken exports to the EU market should boost the overall value of Thai chicken exports to the EU by 10 billion baht annually, as Thailand has a quota to export 92,610 tons of salted chicken to the EU bloc, noting that Thailand has been granted the quota since 2007 but has not yet used it due to the ban, and that his department will try to ask other countries, including Japan and South Korea, to also lift their ban on Thai fresh chicken to further boost the country's exports of the food product. (TNA)