STEVE INSKEEP, Host: NPR's business news starts with bartering oil for rice.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, Host: Thailand's commerce minister said today his country will send senior officials to Iran next month to barter Thailand's grain for Iran's petroleum. Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter, and Iran was one of its biggest customers until rice prices skyrocketed earlier this year. Iran halted most of its imports, as did many other countries. And now Thailand has millions of tons of rice sitting around that nobody can afford to buy. This, Thailand hopes, is one way to get trade going again. No word yet if Americans will follow this example by trading their worthless homes for worthless stocks.
Thailand's commerce minister said Monday that his country will send senior officials to Iran next month to barter grain for petroleum. Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter, and Iran was one of its biggest customers until rice prices skyrocketed earlier this year. Iran stopped most of its imports, as did many other countries. Thailand now has millions of tons of rice sitting around.