What is OREC?

The denomination Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC) describes

a project that to organize 21 rice exporting countries to create a homonymous

organisation. The group is mainly made up of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

and Myanmar but there are other rice exporting countries to be invited. The

project came to the attention of international media after remarks made publicly

by Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on the 30th April 2008.Unlike

unfounded rumors and baseless worries that the Organization was created in order

to increase rice price like OPEC, the objectives of OREC are in fact very humane,

noble and reasonable

Some indications on the organisations' programmatic future may also be found in the statements

of one of its first promoters, Mr. Ngô V?n Tân (poet Tan Van). In early 2005 he wrote an article

in which he promoted the Ideology of Rice Power in Vietnamese language M?nh Vì G?o

(Rice Power). He paid special attention to the hardship of peasants in rice producing

and exporting countries facing price pressures from international buyers
In another article appearing in the Vietnamese newspaper Saigon Tiep Thi on May 30, 2007 he

suggested Vietnam and other rice exporting countries to establish an organization called OREC in

order to make rice price "reasonable" and supply stable, thus creating a win-win

situation for both buyers and producers. The alternative would discourage farmers

from production, thus causing future shortage. The same article appeared again in various

Vietnamese newspapers and websites on March 30, 2008. Ngô V?n Tân also promoted

the idea of using a portion of profits from rice trade to fight food shortages in poor areas,

a form of food redistribution that make the world more fair and just.

Unlike what people suspected of an OPEC cartel that tries to squeeze from

people's pocket for their food, the OREC that Mr. Ngo Van Tan (poet Tan Van) initiated would

invite all the 21 rice exporting countries worldwide to organize themselves into an alliance to help

increase rice production efficiency and prevent human starvation that might happen in the future

with the unforeseen climate changes and disasters. Those countries are:

Thailand export 10 million tons (34.5% of global rice exports)
Vietnam … 4.5 million tons (15.47%)

India … 4.4 million tons (15.12%)
United States … 3.1 million tons (10.6%)
Pakistan … 1.8 million tons (6.3%)
China (including Taiwan) … 901,550 tons (3.1%)
Egypt … 836,940 tons (2.9%)
Italy … 668,940 tons (2.3%)
Uruguay … 609,170 tons (2.1%)
Spain … 346,030 tons (1.2%)
Argentina … 257,750 tons (0.9%)
Guyana … 256,330 tons (0.9%)
United Arab Emirates … 164,350 tons (0.6%)
Belgium-Luxembourg … 157,190 tons (0.5%)
Myanmar … 150,030 tons (0.5%).
Guyana … 256,330 tons (up 59.2% in 2004)
Argentina … 257,750 tons (up 45.1%)
Egypt … 836,940 tons (up 42.9%)
United Arab Emirates … 164.35 (down 14.6%)
Spain … 346.03 (down 9.4%)
Uruguay … 625 (down 2.5%)

This organization is unique and has common aim to increase rice production and exportation.

Thanks to it, rice supply and demand will harmonize, price will be stabilized

and beneficial to both consumers and producers. As you know that peansants in

exporting countries have suffered with unreasonably low price in the past, many peasants

in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia lived in poverty for their hard work, had to sell

their daughters in order to survive because rice farming was a money loosing business

that made many of them in debt lifetime! In the meantime, low rice price was a factor in

wasting this essential product in many cities especially in North America if you go to

a Chinese restaurant, a lot of cooked rice (often overserved) left over by customers

was thrown in garbage. In the meantime people in Asia and Africa starved because of rice shortage.

Thanks to reasonable price, rice peasants can benefit and therefore continue to

produce actively instead of quitting the farm, thus guarantee undisrupted supplies.

As a humanitarian person by nature, I also suggested that those farmers and their

exporting countries reserve a portion of profit to pool together to help subsidize poor

people worldwide so they can afford this essential product.

Thanks to profit farmers can modernize their cultivation with machinery, newly developed seeds,

fertilizer and feel happy to cencentrate in producing rice to feed the world instead of worrying for

their future. BANGKOK (Thomson Financial) April 30, 2008- Thailand has agreed in principle to form

a rice price-fixing cartel with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia as costs of the staple grain

surge, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Wednesday. The grouping of nationswould be

called the Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC).

'I have talked with Myanmar and invited them to join the rice exporting countries cartel, which

will include Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to form the group,' Samak told reporters.

Myanmar's Prime Minister General Thein Sein, in Thailand for an official visit, has agreed to join

the group, even through the military-ruled nation is not currently a large rice exporter, he said.

'Thailand will help
them in terms of technical support to improve their production for export,' Samak said.

Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have also agreed to join, and Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon

Pattama said OREC should begin meeting soon. Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter,

shipping an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of rice overseas last year.

Prime Minister Hun Sen: Orec can solve world hunger

Phnom Penh (Agencies) - Cambodian Prime Minister

Hun Sen said on Monday that the Opec-style rice cartel proposed by Thailand would ensure

global food security, not increase hunger and poverty as critics say. Prime Minister Samak

Sundaravej said last week there was an agreement in principle to form what he calls Organisation

of Rice Exporting Countries by Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The Mekong-region nations

hope they can run a group similar to the oil cartel Opec. Hun Sen said during a university

graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh that the cartel would never try to manipulate markets

like Opec. It would only seek to ensure global food security. "We will not only ensure food

security in each of our own countries, but will help solve the entire problem of (food) shortages

across the region and the world," Hun Sen said. "When there are shortages, we will not stockpile

the rice or increase prices," the premier said. "We really want to help ensure food security."

The Asian Development Bank said it hated the idea. Senior Philippines officials have blasted the

proposal as "anti-poor", designed to increase hunger and poverty. Hun Sen urged them to stop.

"The formation of the organisation is not meant to strangle the throats of countries that do not

have rice," he said. The five proposed members of the cartel will discuss the organisation at

regional talks in October, Hun Sen said, adding that the Mekong river nations would export up

to 15 million tonnes of rice a year - 10 million by Thailand. Hun Sen last week appealed to

farmers to grow more rice in order to profit from the increased global food crisis

.

RICE CARTEL AIMS FOR COMMON PRICE: CAMBODIAN MINISTER

PHNOM PENH - An organization of rice exporting countries (OREC) including Thailand, Cambodia,

Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar will aim to set common price for their rice exports for more benefits

of their own and the world, national media said on Monday. A Common price for rice will enhance

OREC's capability to produce rice, provide a chance to help settle the world food crisis and

increase the incomes of farmers, Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial News quoted

Cambodian Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Chan Sarun as telling a rural products exhibition

in the southern province of Takeo on Sunday.