CP Group has opened an office in Melbourne to start buying red meat and grains and set up a salmon farm in Australia.

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of Thailand Food Security Stockpile and Distribution Center and Industry with the Board of Trade of Thailand.

Charoen Pokphand officials interacted with various agencies of government involved in seed production and sales in a bid to have access to relevant information and to consider the procedure for acquisition of land.

Many foreign companies are now positioning for investments in the Philippines such as the Far East Agriculture Corp., a consortium of at least 10 agribusiness companies from Saudi Arabia. Next month, these companies are expected go back to the Philippines for site selection in areas of rice, corn, poultry and livestock production.

Bahrain and other Gulf countries' plan to buy agricultural land in Thailand to bolster their food supplies could be thwarted, it has emerged.

Pursuing its strategy of penetrating the Middle East market, the company has set up a special committee to study the possibility to increase exports to the region. So far, the company has signed a farming contract with Bahrain for supplying food products.

Les étrangers volent-ils la terre des Thaïlandais ? Le débat enflamme l’ensemble de la presse locale. Malgré des lois strictes, qui font de la terre un bien national inaliénable, les fermiers thaïlandais s’estiment lésés.

Asian nations want to secure their energy needs, while Gulf Arab states are targeting investments in farmland to secure their food supply.

The issue of farmland investments is expected to be raised in the first ministerial meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on June 29-30 in Manama.

Eam Ngamdamronk, vice chairman of CP Group, said it was a flexible agreement in which investment could be made in Bahrain, Thailand and also in third countries.

Al Salam and CP Group will jointly identify suitable agribusiness ventures that will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns while playing a proactive role in addressing food security in the region.

Bahrain-based Islamic bank Al Salam said on Sunday it has signed an agreement with Thailand's agriculture and food company Charoen Pokphand Foods to jointly invest in agricultural businesses.