Thai rice imports: Kebs to scrutinise new deliveries
Kenya has an estimated annual rice deficit of 770,000 metric tonnes with the growing appetite for the popular staple by households far outweighing local production.
What you need to know:
- Kebs says there is no indication that bad rice has entered the country.
- Thai rice is consumed in Kenya, South Africa, Senegal and Cameroon.
The government has said it will assess all rice imports to ensure only grain that meets acceptable standards is allowed into the country.
However, the Kenya National Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has said there is no indication that bad rice has entered the country.
Further, Kebs said it will continue laboratory scrutiny of all impending imports.
“No import will be allowed into the country unless it complies with the requirements of relevant Kenyan standards,” Kebs said in a statement on Tuesday.
Kebs was reacting to reports that Thailand is preparing to export 10-year-old grain to Africa.
“We have therefore alerted our appointed inspection agent in Thailand (SGS) of the impending government rice auction and instructed them to be on the lookout and subject all rice destined to Kenya from Thailand to mandatory inspection and testing,” Kebs said.
Last month, African diplomats raised concerns with Bangkok after Thai authorities announced a planned auction of rice that had been stored for 10 years ostensibly to recoup storage costs.
According to local officials, Thailand plans to auction this week some 15,000 tons of rice and export it to Africa, targeting up to $7.4 million in revenues from sales.
The grain is a remnant of a failed rice pledging programme by then Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who encouraged farmers to grow more grain and supply it to the government at a predetermined price.
The scheme failed after Thai rice became uncompetitive and authorities estimated to have lost up to $13 billion in a scandal that forced Yingluck to flee the country and change nationality.
The officials did not indicate which countries the grain was headed to. However, several African countries, including Kenya, consume some of its white rice.
Thai rice is also consumed in South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Côte d'Ivoire.
According to the Thai Rice Exporters Association, Thailand sold some 4.6 million tonnes to Africa.
“We became concerned because we don’t know the quality of that rice, which has been in the stores for 10 years. We don’t know the health status of that rice. We have not seen it ourselves. So we started to have some fears that somebody wants to sell bad rice to us,” said Lindsay Kiptiness, Kenya’s Ambassador to Thailand and the Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps in Bangkok.
“Why not to other parts of the world? The world is made up of six continents. Why Africa? We have a duty to protect the health of our people. It is not bad to consume old rice if it has been kept well. Old rice is not bad, but there is a danger that it can have aflatoxins,” he said.
Kebs said the age of the rice is not an issue as long as it meets certain standards.
Usually, the regulator uses three kinds of standadisation for milled rice (KS EAS 128: 2023), (Rough/ paddy rice- Specification and Brown Rice- Specification (KS EAS 764 and KS EAS 765) which are enforced by both countries of origin and destination ports of entry inspectors.
These standards do not prescribe shelf life for rice but Kebs says exporters must indicate the crop year, packing date as well as best-before-date.
They must also indicate the level of aflatoxin or heavy metals presence to confirm the suitability of rice for human consumption since physico-chemical properties do not significantly change if the rice is properly stored.
