VNBusinessNews – Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, will revive talks with Viet Nam, ranked second, on forming a rice cartel similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as prices and exports plunge.

“We should develop a rice strategy together like OPEC,” Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot told reporters Friday at his office near Bangkok. He will visit Vietnam from February 15 to 17.

Thailand is reviving the talks amid a 40% decline in rice exports this year and price drops of 50%. The two countries, which supply almost half of global rice exports, discussed the idea last year before the ousting of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej stalled negotiations.

Thai rice exports will probably be lower than 600,000 metric tons in February, compared with 1.04 million tons a year earlier, Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, told reporters Friday.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has set this year’s rice export target at 4.5-5 million tons, compared with nearly 4.7 million tons last year. (Bloomberg)