Thailand hopes to strike a barter deal to buy Iranian fuel in exchange for rice after agreeing a similar arrangement with China, a senior official said.

“I plan to visit Iran early next month to further the negotiation,” Rachane Potjanasuntorn, director general of the Commerce Ministry’s department of foreign trade, said.
The plan was initiated by Iranian officials who visited Thailand and Vietnam last week in an effort to secure 300,000 tonnes of rice.
Officials said the rice would be sold according to current market prices and the deal would not hurt Thai exporters.
“We will negotiate as we are one of exporters so the deal would be done at the current prices,” another senior official told Reuters.
Iran offered crude oil in exchange for rice but Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, was also interested in receiving natural gas.
“Thailand has invested in natural gas in Iran so we are thinking of bartering our rice with another kind of fuel apart from crude oil,” said Rachane.
In 2005, the oil-rich nation imported only 160,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand, down sharply from 600,000 tonnes in the previous year, after turning to lower-priced rice from Vietnam.
But Iran was expected to increase imports to around 500,000 tonnes of Thai 100 per cent B grade rice this year due to higher quality and better transportation, traders said.
Tehran’s concerns over possible sanctions relating to its nuclear programme could also prompt the key rice buyer to boost imports, they said.
Thailand has also reached a preliminary agreement to buy Chinese locomotives with its rice and the deal was expected to be signed by the new transportation minister when the next parliament is convened, a senior official said.
“We have reached a basic deal,” a Commerce Ministry official said.