Mumbai: A Thai proposal to form a cartel of rice producing and exporting countries on the lines of OPEC oil cartel has failed to muster support from other rice producing and exporting nations except perhaps from neighbouring Cambodia.

Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej has revived an earlier proposal by some rice producing countries - Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia – in a bid to stem falling rice prices.

"We are all rice producers. Why don't we cooperate in managing prices?" Samak said after talks with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein.

The cartel would share market information and give each other assistance in producing rice. The cartel could be expanded to include more ASEAN countries, he added.

All five countries have tentatively agreed to join the rice cartel, the Cambodia Daily newspaper quoted a top official at the international trade department of Cambodian commerce ministry as saying.

The Cambodian government, meanwhile, said it is preparing to conduct research on rice prices and the possible functioning of the cartel, the newspaper said.

The proposal, which could only add to global food supply fears amid record high rice prices, however, failed to gain currency and rice traders see little chance it of it getting enough support.

The five mainland Southeast Asian nations produce a combined 60 million tonnes of milled rice each year, about 14 per cent of world output. But only Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, and Vietnam have major surpluses, accounting for about 47 per cent of world trade last year.

Myanmar, meanwhile, has resumed limited rice exports this year, mainly to South Asia, after several years off the market, trade sources said.

Rice traders discounted the chances of an OPEC-style rice cartel in Southeast Asia due mainly to the inability of governments to cooperate with each other and control output.

Several big suppliers, including Vietnam, India and Cambodia, have slapped restrictions on exports this year in an effort to secure domestic supply and keep local prices down.

Thailand first floated the cartel idea in 2001 when it feared losing market share because its export price was around $40 a tonne higher than Vietnam, India and Pakistan.China and India nd the top two rice producers in the world.

Current rice price nearly doubled that of last year in Cambodia, with global prices up from $512 a tonne in January 2007 to $998 by 30 April 2008.