Ｒｉｃｅ　Ｐｒｉｃｅ　ｕｎｄｅｒ　Ｐｒｅｓｓｕｒｅ

Ｌｕｉ　Ｘｉｎ　ｗｅｎ

Early in April, the FOB (Free onBoard) value of rice exported from Bang-kok, Thailand, the biggest rice exporter ofthe world, surged to a new high of US$730per ton, representing an increase of 70 per-cent in recent years, and setting a new re-cord over the past 34 years of Thailand riceexports. As a result, the average price ofrice in the global market has increased by25 percent. In order to ease the grain short-age, rice exporters have begun to search forsolutions. In the Philippines, which is thebiggest rice importer of the world, restrain-ing grain sales have been prohibited by thegovernment and other measures, such asthe purchase of overseas grain to fill re-serves, have also been taken.