Cambodian Rice Smuggling Proves Lucrative

Thai  government guaranteed high prices makes rice smuggling worthwhile.

750,000 tonnes of rice, mainly from Cambodia and Burma was smuggled into Thailand last year.

But why would you smuggle rice from Cambodia to Thailand when the Thais are holding enough rice to satisfy six months of the world's demand for the grain?

Because the Thai government's daft scheme of paying its rice farmers far above current world prices makes the smuggling most lucrative, that's why.

Small shipments are smuggled across Thailand's porous borders, bulked together and then sold to into the Thai government's scheme as Thai-grown rice at prices much higher than Cambodian farmers would get on the world market.

Easy money for some.

But mighty costly for the Thai taxpayer as even their government admits the scheme lost at least US$4.4 billion last year.