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December 3, 2008 1:39:02 AM CST

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Thailand Plans OPEC-Style 'Rice Cartel'

Posted May 1, 08 9:54 AM CDT in Business,  World 

(Newser) – The prime minister of Thailand is exploring the idea of setting up a rice price-fixing cartel with four other governments in southeast Asia, including the military dictatorship of Burma. The Bangkok Post reports that Samak Sundaravej wants to establish an OPEC-style collective of producers that will influence the market for rice, whose rapidly rising price has resulted in protests and hunger riots.

Thailand is the world's leading exporter of rice and has long pondered ways to exert more control over prices. But Burma—whose military ruler, Gen. Thein Sein, was in Bangkok on an official visit—does not export rice, and the Thai government is hoping to induce the nation to produce more to ease demand.

Sources Bangkok Post (Thailand), New York Times

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In this photo released by the Thai Spokesman Office,Thailandâ%uFFFD%uFFFDs Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, left, shows his collection of cat figurines to Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein at his...   (AP Photo/Thai Spokesman Office, HO)
Visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, left, listens to his Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej during their meeting at government house in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, April 30, 2008. Thein Sein is...   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, Pool)
Visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, left, and his Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej make their way to the podium for a welcome ceremony at government house in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, April...   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, Pool)
Nepalese food vendors wait for customers next to sacks of beaten rice at the central market in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, April 30, 2008. World rice prices have risen sharply this year.   (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
An man dries his rice under the sun shine on the outskirts of Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia, Wednesday, April. 30, 2008.   (AP Photo/ Binsar Bakkara)
An Indonesian woman harvests rice Wednesday April 30, 2008 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.   (AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi)
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