The Bangkok Post
Ministry calls meet on rice scheme suspects
The Justice Ministry has invited anti-graft agencies to a meeting next week when it is expected to name the people to be probed in the 853 alleged corruption cases connected to the rice-pledging scheme. The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission last week said it had received 853 ...
Thailand drops to 34th in competitiveness
Thailand’s ranking in the Global Competitiveness Index 2016-17 has dipped two places to 34th from last year. The report is an annual assessment of the factors driving productivity and prosperity in 138 countries. The degree to which economies are open to international trade in goods ...
Waste management capacity on the rise
The country’s capacity for industrial and toxic waste management will rise to 37.6 million tonnes this year, up from 25.8 million last year, as more treatment factories begin operatations, the Industry Ministry’s Department of Industrial Works predicts. The government’s plan to set up industrial waste management ...
Promises unmet as Thailand tries to reform shrimp industry
Facing international pressure for failing to stop human trafficking in its seafood sector, Thailand promised almost a year ago to compensate victims of slavery and industry leaders vowed to bring all shrimp processing in-house. That hasn’t always happened. Instead, some formerly enslaved shrimp peelers have been ...
Thailand to overhaul sugar policy
Thailand, the world’s second largest sugar exporter after Brazil, is to overhaul its sugar production and distribution systems for the first time in more than three decades in order to avoid being challenged by Brazil at the World Trade Organization. The move is unlikely to make ...
Exporters warned over strict standards
Amid poor export prospects, Thai exporters are being warned of looming strict trade standards on food safety, sanitation and the environment, notably from the US, the EU and Japan. Pimchanok Vonkhorporn, deputy director–general of Trade Policy and Strategy Office under the Commerce Ministry, said stricter ...
34 provinces on alert as storm Rai covers Thailand
The Meteorological Department issued a warning on September 13 to people in 34 provinces in the North, Northeast and East to brace for heavy rain and stay tuned for weather updates. As of early Wednesday, tropical storm “Rai” was over Laos and the Northeast on September ...
An elemental difference has developed among those concerned for wetland conservation
If this year’s severe drought returns next dry season, Uncle Wai Rodtayoy and other salt farmers in tambon Koek Kharm of Samut Sakhon, known as the country’s largest sea-salt-farming area, will see mounting debts. The price of salt this year bottomed at 450 baht per ...
EC debates bill to boost power
The Election Commission is expected to debate on September 13 a draft organic law seeking to grant itself more powers to ensure efficiency in guarding against poll fraud and cheats. A source at the EC said the draft law involves the elections of MPs and the mechanisms ...
State aid for cassava farmers
The government is set to introduce measures to curb the adverse impact of falling tapioca prices in light of lower imports from China and price-cutting competition. Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the measures include schemes to cut farmers’ existing loan interest, ...