Typhoon
kills 12, destroys rice fields
Reuters
October 21, 2016 1:31pm
Philippine authorities said they
were assessing the extent of damage to infrastructure and crops, but confirmed
that thousands of hectares of farmland were destroyed in northern provinces.
Eight of the victims were from
the Cordillera region, said Ricardo Jalad, chief of the National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council, citing reports the agency received from
provincial officials.
In Cagayan alone, where the super
typhoon made landfall late on Wednesday with destructive 225kph (140 mph) winds
and heavy rain, between 50,000-60,000 hectares of rice fields were flattened
and flooded, said the provincial governor Manuel Mamba.
"It was like we were hit by
another Yolanda," he told a radio station, referring to the 2013 super
typhoon known internationally as Haiyan which killed at least 6,000 people and
destroyed billions of pesos worth of property.
Hong Kong shut all but essential
services in the global financial hub as the storm approached.
"According to the present
forecast track, Haima will be closest to Hong Kong around noon, skirting about
100km (62 miles) to the east of the territory," said the observatory on its
website.
"This means that winds with
mean speeds of 63kph (40 mph) or more are expected from the northwest
quarter."
Flights and train services have
been cancelled in and out of the city
NFA assures
enough rice in typhoon Lawin affected areas
·
October 21, 2016
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MANILA, Oct. 21 - National Food Authority Officer-in-Charge Tomas R. Escarez assured
the public that the food agency has properly positioned enough rice stocks in
warehouses nationwide particularly in areas directly affected by typhoon Lawin.
“We are closely coordinating with
relief agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),
Regional and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council
(RDRRMC/PDRRMC), local government units (LGUs), Philippine National Red Cross
(PNRC), among others. We are ready to issue their rice requirements anytime,”
Escarez said. The NFA has a standing memorandum of agreement (MOA) with these relief
agencies so they can withdraw rice from NFA during emergencies.
Typhoon Lawin made landfall in
Southern Cagayan late Wednesday evening.
Escarez has instructed his field
executives to safeguard NFA offices/installations/unit offices, properties,
stocks and personnel against possible danger. “We have activated our operations
center (OpCen) nationwide to ensure 24-hour response and regularly monitor
weather bulletins,” he said.
As standard procedure, the NFA is
also closely monitoring prices of basic commodities, particularly rice, before,
during and after the occurrence of natural calamities. (NFA)
NFA
releases 3,325 bags of rice to typhoon Lawin affected areas
October 22, 2016
MANILA, Oct. 22 - The National Food Authority has already released a total of 3,325
bags of rice to relief agencies in typhoon Lawin affected areas.As of October
19, the food agency has issued 1,420 bags of rice to the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) for its relief operations in areas affected by
typhoon Lawin. These include La Union which received 720 bags; Tuguegarao, 300
bags; and Isabela, 400 bags.
The NFA also released the rice
requirements of local government units (LGUs) affected by the recent typhoon in
La Union, 20 bags; Eastern Pangasinan, 100 bags; Western Pangasinan, 396 bags;
Tuguegarao (Cagayan), 320 bags; Allacapan, 291 bags; Isabela, 130 bags; Nueva
Vizcaya, 86 bags; Aurora, 250 bags; Tarlac, 35 bags; and Camarines Norte, 6
bags.
The remaining 277 bags were released
to other relief agencies in Tuguegarao (Cagayan), 100 bags; and Isabela, 177
bags.
NFA Officer in Charge Tomas R.
Escarez said the NFA is in constant coordination with relief agencies for the
immediate release of their rice requirement. “We will continue to monitor the
situation to assure the stable supply and prices of rice in these areas. We
assure the public that the NFA will always be here to immediately respond to
the rice needs of calamity victims anywhere in the country,” Escarez said.
The NFA regularly conducts
monitoring of basic commodities in the affected areas. NFA monitoring teams
reported that supply and prices of commercial rice and other basic commodities
remain stable. Prevailing rice market prices were monitored at P32 to P36 per
kilogram.
Before typhoon Lawin made a
landfall, the NFA has activated its Operations Center to ensure 24-hour
response and regularly monitor weather bulletins. (NFA)
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1141477029653/nfa-releases-3-325-bags-of-rice-to-typhoon-lawin-affected-areas
Myanmar's rice export to China fetches 123 mln
USD in H1
Source: Xinhua
2016-10-21 18:57:32
YANGON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar exported 335,366 tons of rice
to China in the first half of this 2016-2017 fiscal year, earning 123.093
million U.S. dollars, according to statistics of Myanmar's Customs Department
Friday.Of the total export volume, 316,033 tons were exported through border
trade, fetching 115.929 million U.S. dollars.
Myanmar has four border gates with China - Muse in northern Shan
state, Lwejel in Kachin state, Chin Shwehaw in northeastern Shan state and
Kanpite Tee in Kachin state.
Of these border trade points, Muse stands the largest trade zone
with the maximum trade value between the two neighbors.
Myanmar mostly exports rice to China, while the others are
agricultural products, jade and raw materials.
China is the top rice export market of Myanmar, followed by
Singapore while the United Arab Emirates remains the third largest.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's total rice export in the first half of this
fiscal year reached 401,367 tons valued at 145.158 million U.S. dollars.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/21/c_135772385.ht
1121 variety
of rice a boon for farmers: Farm varsity VC
Ashok Kumar Sarial
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, October 20
There is scope for growing the commercial paddy
variety of 1121 basmati in the border areas of Himachal. If grown, the variety
will supplement the income of farmers. In an interview with The Tribune,
Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Agriculture University (CSKAU),
Palampur, Ashok Kumar Sarial lists the benefits that can be reaped from the
paddy variety.
Ashok Kumar Sarial, who is credited with the
development of 1121 variety of basmati, said it was the highest selling and
exported variety from India. He said due to 1121 basmati, India had become the
biggest exporter of rice in the world. The variety has been developed after
crossing traditional varieties of basmati grown in North India. The plants of
1121 variety are shorter in size due to which they can tolerate adverse weather
and give higher yield. “In Himachal, about 30 per cent area under cultivation
is irrigated. In these irrigated areas, located close to Punjab, the farmers
can increase their income by growing 1121 varieties,” he said.
When asked about the drop in prices of 1121
basmati last year due to which farmers in North India suffered losses, the VC
said it was due to the 1509 variety, not the 1121 variety. He said: “The 1509
variety developed from 1121 generally ripens early in September. Last year,
many farmers went in for large scale sowing of 1509 variety to reap the
benefits of early harvest. The traders also tried to take benefit of it. The
Government of India does not allow the export of 1509 basmati variety. However,
the traders mixed the 1509 variety of rice with 1121 and exported it to the Middle
East.” Due to early harvest, the 1509 variety of rice does not have flavour and
its grain also breaks down during milling. Due to the mixing of 1121 with 1509,
the export orders from India were rejected and it created a glut in the local
market. The prices of 1121 also fell in the domestic market due to same reason.The
VC said this year, the people were not sowing the 1509 basmati variety. They
are just sowing 1121 and the prices are expected to remain high.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/community/1121-variety-of-rice-a-boon-for-farmers-farm-varsity-vc/312420.html
Market Access an Uphill Climb in EU
By Bob Cummings
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -- Popular opposition to trade agreements and EU
protectionism of "sensitive" agricultural products, including rice,
are two factors holding back progress on a massive trade deal between the
United States and the European Union called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership, or T-TIP. A delegation of USA Rice members and
staff traveled here last week to meet with EU officials, private sector
agriculture groups, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's office at the U.S.
Mission to the EU.
"The EU imports a large amount of rice - 1.3 million metric
tons each year, but the U.S. never recovered the market share lost following
the Liberty Link incident ten years ago," said Chris Bonnesen, USA Rice EU
Trade Policy Subcommittee chairman and president, ADM Rice, Inc. "The
U.S. exports about 50,000 metric tons of rice to the EU, with at least 90
percent going to the UK, far below our traditional annual sales of nearly
300,000 tons distributed all over the EU. Unreasonable import duties on
U.S. rice are responsible."
The EU runs a highly complex and discriminatory import regime for
rice based on extensive use of tariff rate quotas (TRQ) by country and region,
and by type and form of rice. Least Developed Countries, such as Cambodia
and Myanmar (Burma), receive duty free access for rice and imports have surged
in recent years while U.S. access is largely constrained by a 38,721-metric-ton
TRQ for fully milled rice.
"If we don't ship milled rice under the TRQ, then our
customers face an EU import duty of about $194 per metric ton," said Producers'
Rice Mill VP and EU Subcommittee member Johnny Sullivan. "It's very
hard to be competitive in Europe with that level of tariff when rice imported
from most other origins has little or zero tariffs."
USA Rice is calling for the full elimination of the EU's import
duties on all types and forms of U.S. rice.
"The market in Europe has changed over the past ten years,
with buyers more price conscious and less familiar with U.S. rice," said
delegation member Terry Harris, vice president at Riceland Foods, Inc.
"This is a new trading environment and yesterday's import policies and
tariffs need major reform."
While the Obama Administration has a goal of completing the T-TIP
negotiations this year, the two sides are far apart on key areas and European public
opinion is increasingly hostile to the idea of any agreement of this
type.
Bonnesen said in order to make it worthwhile for the entire rice
industry to participate in this important and traditional market, USA Rice will
continue to advocate for a robust and comprehensive trade agreement with the EU
as the vehicle to improve access and the U.S's competitive position in Europe.
National Rice Month Scholarship Deadline in Ten Days
Create a video, three minutes or less, telling the story of U.S.
grown rice to win one of three scholarship prizes, sponsored by Dow
AgroSciences, totaling $8,500.
The grand-prize winner will receive a $4,000 scholarship and a
trip with a chaperone this December to the awards ceremony at the 2016 USA Rice
Outlook Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. The second-place winner will
receive a $3,000 scholarship, and third-place $1,500.
Entries are due October 31, and winners will be notified by November 21.
This Cooker
Uses Rice Husks as a Cheap, Green Fuel Source
One of the world's big sources of agricultural
waste powers Alexis Belonio's cook stoves.
View Images
Engineer Alexis Belonio tinkers with one of his cooking stoves.
PHOTOGRAPH BY KIRSTEN HOLST, ROLEX AWARDS
By Gary
Strauss
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 19, 2016
To many,
"biofuels" is just a buzzword, holding more promise than
practicality.
But not to
Alexis Belonio, the Philippines-based inventor who developed an innovative,
clean-burning cooking stove fueled by rice husks.
Rice-husk stove
technology has been around for decades. It allows users to transform inedible
husks—normally dumped or burned after rice is milled—into fuel. But early
stoves didn't generate sufficient heat to quickly cook food, and they spewed
too much sooty smoke, making inside use unhealthy and dangerous.
Belonio, an
engineer, scientist, and tinkerer who had previously designed water pumps and
rice paddy dryers, became obsessed with creating a gasified stove in 2003, when
the Philippines,
which relies heavily on oil and gas imports, was hit with sharply higher energy
prices.View Images
Belonio and agricultural engineering students at Central
Philippine University weigh rice husks before they're fed into a gasifier
stove.
PHOTOGRAPH BY KIRSTEN HOLST, ROLEX AWARDS
Drawing upon
wood gasification technology, Belonio spent three years designing a simple
albeit revolutionary cooker. It's powered by a small electric or
battery-powered base fan that drives air through the husks, converting them
into a gaseous blend of methane, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. A metal tube
pushes the mixture to a top burner that produces a hot blue flame, similar to
natural gas. A pound of rice husks generates about 20 minutes of cooking time,
and the greenhouse emissions are about half those of fossil-fueled stoves,
Belonio says.
Early rice-husk
gas stoves made in the Philippines cost around a hundred dollars, too much for
low-income farming families. By simplifying the design and materials, Belonio,
a Rolex Laureate, eventually got
the price down to about $20. As a primary fuel source, rice husks can save
about $150 a year in gas or kerosene costs, or about 10 percent of an improverished
family's annual income, Belonio says.
Belonio, who
chairs the Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Management department at
Central Philippine University, shares his technology in technical manuals and over the Internet, free of charge,
enabling people to design and build stoves using their own tools and materials,
such as scrap metal.
View Images
Belonio shows farmer Sabina Mendoza
how to use a rice-husk gas stove.
PHOTOGRAPH
BY KIRSTEN HOLST, ROLEX AWARDS
“To me, there’s
such a joy in sharing technology that will benefit others,’’ says Belonio, 56.
“I received the knowledge of this stove from God for free, and I must give it
away for free.”
Over 40 companies,
NGOs, and aid organizations have adopted Belonio's rice-husk stove designs, and
they're now used by people in over a dozen countries.
Belonio is
still perfecting several designs, including longer burning stoves, commercial
variations for restaurants and bakeries, and models where containers of rice
husks are burned and swapped out, like propane tanks on gas grills. He’d like
to see rice-husk power used widely in heating systems, agricultural equipment,
and other devices in rural, off-the-grid regions where fuel remains expensive
and not readily available.
Belonio also
hopes to design a small, husk-fueled power generator that could be a lifesaver
in areas without access to electricity.
“If you can
have a device that can provide power for lighting so children can study at
night, to charge a cell phone battery or run a motorbike, you have no idea what
that could mean to some people,’’ Belonio says. “That is my dream.”
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1115996/yingluck-gets-b35bn-fine-order-pledges-to-fight
Rice
Festival celebrates this years harvest, farmers recovering after flood
CROWLEY, La. (KLFY) – Crowley is
home to over 80 thousand acres of rice, making the crop a major part of the
economy and the culture.
“The best part is being able to
represent and pay tribute to the rice farmers who work diligently every year to
feed half of the actual world,” said the 80th Miss Crowley, Kathryn Shea
Duncan.
Rice Festival co-chairman Chad
Monceaux said the farmers’ hard work and dedication is why residents have been
celebrating the International Rice Festival for 80 years.
“We really look up to our farmers
and that’s what this festival is all about. It’s celebrating the end of the
harvest season.”
But this year the harvest was
interrupted by the devastating flood of 2016.
“Since there was about 20% of the
rice that was still in the fields, we figured that was about 16,500 acres that
was still left and hadn’t been cut yet,” Jeremy Hebert.
LSU Ag Center County Agent Jeremy
Hebert said the flood caused many farmer’s crops to take a hit.
“If we put a number on that
16,500 acres its about 2.5 million dollars that’s still left out in the field.”
But Hebert said despite the
recent flood, there is still plenty to be proud of and celebrate.
“They have to bounce back and
they always do but we’re still fortunate that farmers were able to still get
rice out of the fields and i guess that’s why we’re here to celebrate.”
Hebert said farmers will begin
planting next year’s crop in late February to mid-March.
http://klfy.com/2016/10/20/rice-festival-celebrates-this-years-harvest-farmers-recovering-after-flood/
Enough rice supply in Lawin-hit
areas
(The Philippine Star) | Updated October 22, 2016 - 12:00am
NFA assured the public that the
food agency has properly positioned enough rice stocks in warehouses nationwide
particularly in areas directly affected by the typhoon. File photo
MANILA, Philippines - The National
Food Authority (NFA) has maintained that there is enough rice supply for
Typhoon Lawin-affected areas after the agency released more than 3,000 bags of
rice.The NFA has released 3,325 bags of rice to the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) and local government units for distribution to
typhoon victims.NFA assured the public that the food agency has properly
positioned enough rice stocks in warehouses nationwide particularly in areas
directly affected by the typhoon.
The agency has issued the rice
requirements of LGUs in La Union, Eastern and Western Pangasinan, Cagayan,
Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Aurora, Tarlac, and Camarines Norte.
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NFA said it is closely coordinating
with relief agencies and LGUs for continuous rice releases as part of its
standing memorandum of agreement.
As standard procedure, the NFA is
also monitoring prices of basic commodities, particularly rice after the
occurrence of the typhoon. NFA reported that supply and prices
of commercial rice and other basic commodities remain stable.
Prevailing rice market prices were
monitored at P32 to P36 per kilogram.
“We will continue to monitor the
situation to assure the stable supply and prices of rice in these areas,” NFA
officer-in-charge Tomas Escarez said.Lawin made landfall in Southern Cagayan
late Wednesday evening.
Food Poisoning
Looms: Expired Rice Flood Nigerian Markets
— Oct 22, 2016 4:53 am |
There
are strong indications that expired foreign rice smuggled into the country may
have flooded Nigerian markets, LEADERSHIP can report.The commodity, according
to LEADERSHIP investigation are being imported from neighboring Benin Republic
into Nigeria.Nigeria shares major borders with Benin Republic at Seme Border
(Lagos), Idiroko (Ogun State), Shaki (Oyo State) and Chikanda (Kwara State).It
was gathered that a larger percentage of rice imported into the Francophone
country were meant for sale in Nigeria. The rice has been exposed to poor
storage facilities, rain, weevils and other unhygienic forms of storage,
thereby making the commodity toxic and not fit for human consumption anymore.
However,
the unwholesome commodity is also smuggled into the country through methods
that include pouring grains of rice into various crevices of vehicles.The
product are also believed to be conveyed in open wooden canoes across creeks
and waterways with large quantity of unhygienic waters splashing on them.It was
gathered that despite the very obvious activities of the Federal Operation Unit
(FOU) A, Ikeja to stem smuggling, border commands of Seme, Idiroko, Oyo/Oshun – have not been able
to check smuggling of these toxic commodities from getting into Nigeria in
large quantities.Recall that FOU A had seized over 29,750 bags of 50kg of
smuggled rice with Duty Paid Value of N193m and arrested over 163 suspects from
January to September 2016. The same cannot be said of Seme, Idiroko and
Oyo/Oshun Command who had the primary responsibility of policing the borders.
LEADERSHIP
investigation further showed that the business of rice smuggling is growing and
appearing increasingly unabated at the land borders thereby putting Nigeria at
risk of consuming the expired rice.
For
instance, last week two trucks load of frozen chicken estimated to be over 2062
cartons valued at over N11million were intercepted at Ijebu-Ode enroute Sango,
a suburb in Ogun by Comptroller General Compliance team, South West Zone after
it had escaped Ogun border Command.It was reported that articulated vehicles,
cars and canoes loaded with rice crossed through the waters and creeks of
Badagry and Agbara, Idiroko and Saki to land in Sango, Kuto, Iyana ipaja, Iddo,
Badagry, Mile 2, Daleko markets.
Early
morning visits to some of these markets showed vehicles in large quantities
offloading their smuggled wares.In the case of Sango market, opposite the
Divisional Police Station, LEADERSHIP reporter saw smuggled vehicles used to
move the commodities with the connivance of some security operatives, thereby
Police causing early morning traffic as they take turns to discharge their
smuggled consignments into the Sango market for onward distribution to other
parts of Lagos.The buyers of the expired products are already at hand buying
the products and moving them in large quantities into commercial
buses to their various destinations.Reacting to the LEADERSHIP inquiry, the
Customs Public Relations Officer, Wale Adeniyi said the service is aware of the
availability of expired rice in Nigeria markets.
“We have
raised the alarm of expired rice because they have stored the rice in
neighbouring countries and they cannot bring them into the country.“The rice
have been there for a long time and it got expired because they cannot bring
them in and that was why Customs raised the alarm that Nigerians should be
careful with the kind of rice they buy in the market,” he told our
correspondent.The Customs Area Controller, Oyo/Oshun Command, Tope Ogunkua also
confirmed the existence of expired rice in various markets across the country.“The
public Nigeria should be vigilant when they want to purchase rice in the market
to ensure that they do not consume expired rice. There was the need to inform the public again because of the increase in the
rate at which smugglers have attempted to import expired rice to the country.”
Ogunkua
disclosed that the Command has continued to discover so many bags of expired
rice out of the many lorry loads of the commodity which it has impounded
saying that it was an indication that the smugglers have continued in
their attempts to bring expired rice
into Nigeria.‘’In some of our dealings with the smugglers, we discover that
some of the bags of rice are expired, that is why we are telling the public to
be mindful of what they consume. If those rice was to get into the market, they
would just put them in another set of bags or in basins and
retail them to the unsuspecting public,’’ he said.
FOU A,
Comptroller Mohammed Dahiru said rice importation through the land borders was
banned by the Federal government in other to control whatis being brought into
the country.He said the FOU A has done enough to curb smuggling of rice through
the land border.“I believe we have been able to achieve greater percentage of
suppressing smuggling and if somebody is to be objective and fair to customs
FOU A, I believe it will be a pass mark because what is in the FOU A warehouse,
both open and other warehouse is a good testimony that FOU is working. It is
full to the brim with rice.
Getting
the National Agency of Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to comment
on how Nigerians can identify expired rice in the markets and what they are
doing to mop up such commodity from Lagos market was not fruitful as calls
placed to the agency’s spokesperson in Lagos, Mrs Christy Obiazikwor were not
answered and series of text messages sent to her phone were also not replied.
http://leadership.ng/news/555556/food-poisoning-looms-expired-rice-flood-nigerian-markets
10/20/2016 Farm Bureau Market Report
Rice
High
|
Low
|
|
Long Grain Cash Bids
|
- - -
|
- - -
|
Long Grain New Crop
|
- - -
|
- - -
|
Futures:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rice Comment
Rice futures
were lower as November continues to fail at resistance at $10.50. Weekly export
sales of 69,600 metric tons was an improvement from last week, but not enough
to spark buying interest.
APEDA AgriExchange Newsletter - Volume 1581
Market Watch
|
||||
Commodity-wise, Market-wise Daily Price on 19-10-2016
|
||||
Domestic Prices
|
Unit Price : Rs per Qty
|
|||
Product
|
Market Center
|
Variety
|
Min Price
|
Max Price
|
Rice
|
||||
1
|
Dibrugarh (Assam)
|
Other
|
2000
|
2900
|
2
|
Hassan (Karnataka)
|
Other
|
2100
|
2410
|
3
|
Sainthia (West Bengal)
|
Common
|
1840
|
1860
|
Wheat
|
||||
1
|
Kadi (Gujarat)
|
Other
|
1725
|
2065
|
2
|
Nagpur (Maharashtra)
|
Other
|
2200
|
2600
|
3
|
Satna (Madhya Pradesh)
|
Other
|
1500
|
1760
|
Papaya
|
||||
1
|
Jagraon (Kerala)
|
Other
|
2400
|
2500
|
2
|
Taura (Haryana)
|
Other
|
2500
|
2500
|
3
|
Jajpur (Orissa)
|
Other
|
800
|
1000
|
Brinjal
|
||||
1
|
Chala (Kerala)
|
Other
|
2200
|
2257
|
2
|
Bargarh (Orissa)
|
Other
|
1400
|
1500
|
3
|
Shillong (Meghalaya)
|
Other
|
1800
|
2200
|
Source:agmarknet.nic.in
|
l | |||
Sial Food Fair concludes
21-Oct-16
POPULAR
KARACHI: As many as 26 leading
companies participated in the SIAL Food Fair 2016, under the parentage of Trade
and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), which concluded on Thursday.The
event was inaugurated on 16 October. The companies mainly showcased rice and
processed food products during the event. Most of leading names of rice
exporters of Pakistan were included in the Pakistan pavilion. Ambassador Moinul
Haque visited Pakistan pavilion on the 1st day of the exhibition and met all
companies individually at their stall and sought briefing about the event and
facilitation. He appreciated the efforts of TDAP and its commercial section.
The business community has shown great interest in Pakistani rice.
Daily Times
21 Oct 2016 at 15:03 9,719 viewed9
comments
Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
is greeted by her as she arrives at the Supreme Court for a witness hearing in
the rice-pledge scheme on Oct 7, 2016.
Former Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra said the junta had fined her 35.7 billion baht over the rice
pledging scheme.She said outside a Bangkok court on Friday that she had
received a notice two days ago ordering her assets to be seized."Such an
order has violated my rights and is not fair," she said as supporters
greeted her outside the Bangkok courthouse.
"I affirm that I will exercise
all my rights to deny this allegation and the civil charges," she said.The
order, signed by Deputy Finance Minister Wisudhi Srisuphan and permanent
secretary Somchai Sujjapongse on Oct 13, and received by Yingluck on Wednesday,
details allegations and losses to the government which occurred from the
scheme.It demands Yingluck pay the money to the ministry within 30 days, and
allows her the right to appeal within 90 days if she does not agree with the
order.The ex-premier added that she would not comment further as the country is
still grieving the death last week of its revered monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej.
But she has previously called on
the junta to file civil claims in court instead of ordering the 35.7-billion-baht
fine, 66 times the 579-million-baht assets she declared in June 2015.Gen Prayut
Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as the junta chief, in mid-September issued an
order by his absolute power under Section 44 of the 2014 interim constitution
to have the Legal Execution Department seize the assets of state officials
liable to pay civil damages under the scheme. The executors will have immunity
in doing their duties.
Before the order, the Finance
Ministry and Commerce Ministry were supposed to seize assets by themselves, a
time-consuming process since, unlike the Legal Execution Department, they are
not experts on the issue. Ms Yingluck
was charged with criminal negligence over the rice subsidy scheme and is now
fighting the charges in court. Her lawyers had earlier asked the junta to put
off imposing the fine until the court rules.In addition to cases against
Yingluck and senior members of her former cabinet, the junta is investigating
some 850 cases related to the rice scheme for graft, government spokesman
General Sansern Kaewkamnerd told Reuters.
Many of the cases involve
lower-ranking public officials and members of the private sector, he said.The
scheme, which was launched in October 2011 as part of a Pheu Thai party
election promise, allegedly resulted in 554 billion in losses for the country.
Critics say farmers were paid overly high rates for their rice. Ms Yingluck
said in her defence it was "a public policy, which aimed to help
farmers".Shortly after the 2014 coup, she was retroactively impeached and,
as a result, she was banned from politics for five years.
Rice
harvest prompts wary sales
21 Oct 2016 at 07:48
NEWSPAPER SECTION: BUSINESS | WRITER: PHUSADEE
ARUNMAS
The
government will pause its efforts to dispose of state rice stocks to curb any
adverse impact on domestic rice prices as the latest harvest enters the market.According
to Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, with
the annual rice harvest season beginning earlier, rice sales must be held
cautiously."Authorities are now studying proper periods and types of
grains for disposal, and adjusting criteria to comply with changing
conditions," she said.
Mrs Duangporn said the government now controls
8.4 million tonnes, of which half is good-quality rice and the rest is suitable
for industrial use.The quantity of state rice stocks has fallen from 18.7
million tonnes accumulated through various rice-pledging schemes in 2011-14.Earlier
last month, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told relevant authorities to
closely monitor rice prices before calling for a new round of rice auctions.
The
premier said accelerated sales of rice in large amounts could hurt domestic
prices, while the global market is likely to be nonreactive to higher
production.Thailand is forecast to produce 23 million tonnes of paddy in the
main harvest season, which will gradually enter the market from late September
onward.
Since
the May 2014 coup, 8.6 million tonnes of rice has been sold in 18 auctions,
fetching 89 billion baht. Government-to-government rice deals have unloaded an
estimated 3.8 million tonnes worth 50 billion baht.The government-to-government
rice deals exclude August's winning bid to supply the Philippines with 100,000
tonnes, 25% of which are due for delivery this month or early November.The
National Rice Policy Committee, chaired by the premier, last month also
approved measures to prod farmers to delay rice sales.
The
measures include 1,000 baht per rai in cash handouts to rice farmers, plus a 4%
interest rate subsidy worth a combined 1.24 billion baht to millers and
agricultural cooperatives that agree to hold rice in their warehouses for six
months.According to Mrs Duangporn, Thailand, as of Oct 18, has shipped 7.9
million tonnes, down 8.1% year-on-year from the same period last year, with an
export value of 126 billion baht, down 8.4%.In a bid to stimulate year-end rice
sales, the Foreign Trade Department is scheduled to lead Thai public and
private delegations to visit key rice potential buyers such as Indonesia and
Malaysia in November.
