Southeast Asian Rice Exporters Eye Cartel to Boost Prices
Southeast Asia’s rice-exporting nations are in talks to create a formal alliance aimed at boosting prices and increasing export revenues, a move that could cause tensions with rice-importing nations. … An alliance of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will aim to share information and cooperate in production and marketing, with the goal of increasing rice export prices, Yanyong Phuangrach, Thailand’s permanent secretary for commerce said in Bangkok Wednesday. The aim is to form the alliance by the end of the year, he added. … The proposed rice exporters’ alliance comprises countries that are also members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member group that also includes Indonesia and the Philippines. An Asean official said the plan doesn’t have the blessings of the organization. “It will be misleading to call it an Asean plan,” said a senior official in the Asean secretariat. …
