Geeez, greed baby, yeah greed is the name of the game!
Meanwhile, people will go hungry in some other parts of the world.
here's the news feed from inquirer.net
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BANGKOK—The countries of Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have agreed in principle to form a rice price-fixing cartel similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as costs of the staple grain rocket, Thailand’s prime minister said on Wednesday.
Thailand’s Premier Samak Sundaravej said the grouping of Mekong nations would be called the Organization of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC).
“I have talked with Burma and invited them to join the rice exporting countries cartel, which will include Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to fix the price,” Samak told reporters.
He said Burma’s Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, in Thailand for an official visit, had agreed to join, even though the military-ruled nation was not currently a large rice exporter.
“Thailand will help them in terms of technical support to improve their production for export,” Samak said.
Samak said Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had also agreed to join, and Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said OREC should begin meeting soon.
Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter. It shipped an estimated 9.5 million tons of rice overseas last year.
World rice prices have soared this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertilizer costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations, and price speculation.
International demand for Thai rice has soared after other top exporters Vietnam and India imposed limits on exports to ensure domestic supply.
Thailand has repeatedly insisted it will not limit exports, but on Tuesday the government announced it was releasing its stockpile of 2.1 million tons into the domestic market to keep prices stable.
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