Thai, Vietnam rice price hike plan ‘impossible’, export body says

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of Thailand’s Rice Exporters Association, said his body had not been consulted, and the idea was poorly thought out.(File pic shows a padi field in Vietnam.)

BANGKOK: A pact between Thailand and Vietnam to raise rice prices would be “impossible”, a top Thai industry official says, in another sign of opposition to a government-proposed plan for a rice cartel amid a global food crisis.

Thailand’s government said it planned with Vietnam to create a pact between the world’s second-and third-largest rice exporters to boost their bargaining power and help mitigate rising production costs.