Eleven submit bids for 540,000 tonnes of energy-use rice

The government’s rice stocks are on the brink of selling out after the final auction of 540,000 tonnes for energy purposes gained 11 bidders.

The Foreign Trade Department, which handles state rice sales, revealed yesterday that the auction for inedible-grade rice stocks for ethanol and energy use saw 15 potential bidders join a meeting to discuss qualification requirements.

Of the 13 qualified bidders that submitted purchase envelopes yesterday, 11 of them offered the highest prices to buy a combined 530,000 million tonnes, accounting for 97.6% of the total bidding volume from 80 state warehouses worth 1.8 billion baht.

Proposed buying prices averaged 3,220 baht a tonne. The highest demand was for 5% white rice, accounting for 56.4%.

According to Adul Chotinisakorn, the department’s director-general, the working group on government rice sales will submit the conclusion of the rice bidding to the Rice Policy and Management Committee for approval.

After this bidding, the government rice stocks will be nearly gone. The Foreign Trade Department has sought to clear out the state supplies for the last four years.

From May 2014 to this month, the government disposed of 16.89 million tonnes of state rice stocks worth 145.909 billion baht out of 17.76 million tonnes.

Some 940,000 tonnes overseen by the Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) and the Marketing Organization for Farmers (MOF) will need to be clarified in terms of rice quality and warehouse location.

The Foreign Trade Department will ask the Rice Policy and Management Committee to solve the problem of existing stocks overseen by the PWO and the MOF.

Mr Adul said the last auction of 43,000 tonnes of edible rice for human consumption was completed in May, while the leftover stocks were only inedible rice that bidders have yet to purchase of about 20,000 tonnes, for which the department plans to call an auction later.

As of this week, Thailand had exported 5.197 million tonnes of rice, up 7.5% year-on-year, with a value of US$2.636 billion, up 28%. Thailand aims to export 10 million tonnes this year.

Separately, Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara said after discussions with Nigeria’s ambassador to Thailand that the ministry is pursuing a trade and economic cooperation agreement to remove trade and investment obstacles between the two countries.

The areas of cooperation under discussion include agriculture and jewellery.