THE Commerce Ministry has come up with short- and long-term measures to prevent rice prices falling during the current harvest season and drive demand for Thai rice in both the domestic and overseas markets.
Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn yesterday said the government had agreed on a measure to absorb a combined 12.5 million tonnes of paddy rice from the market by providing soft loans for farmers, cooperatives and rice traders.
The package is aimed at delaying sales of new-crop rice and keeping the output in stockpiles during the main-crop harvest season, which runs from early November through to March.