The world’s leading rice exporters in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, will joint hands to develop a joint model on marketing cooperation, according to news quoted on a global rice trading website.
The move is aimed to strengthen and stabilize the price of rice in the global market, said director-general of the Thai Foreign Trade Department Rachane Potjanasuntorn.
The form of joint marketing cooperation will be also used as a pilot model for further cooperation among the world's top five rice exporters – Thailand, Vietnam, China, Pakistan and India, Rachane added.
Instead of undercutting each other in the global rice trade, the bilateral meeting is to come up with new strategies to shore up the commodity price and support joint cooperation in producing, selling, stockpiling and diminishing obstacles.
Under the planned joint marketing model, the two major rice exporters are eyeing the lucrative Middle East market, one of the world's major rice buyers, as a possible commercial target to penetrate for mutual benefits, according to Rachane.
Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, set a target to export 7.5 million tons of rice worth US$2.3 billion in 2006, up from 7.3 million tons last year.
The average price is expected at US$318 per ton, the senior official said.
Vietnam, the world's second-ranking rice exporter aims to export 5 million tons of rice in the same period.
Meanwhile, according to Rachane, Vietnamese rice exporters are seeking expertise from their Thai counterparts to help upgrade their quality control system in the hope of fetching prices as high as the Thai mainstay in the future.
Thanhniennews
Vietnamese
