Fri, May 24, 2013 23:24:40 PM
Bangkok Post
Fri, May 24, 2013 23:24:40 PM
Bangkok Post
The Commerce Ministry will call a second round of bids next week for the remaining 500,000 tonnes of rice unsold from last month's tender.
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the rice is left over from the first round bid in which 753,000 tonnes of rice were put up for auction, but only 229,661 tonnes were sold because of the low offering prices.
It earned the state about 3.97 billion baht and he hopes to get higher prices from next week's offer considering the surging market price after it was reported that US rice production is lower than expected.
The 750,000 tonnes of rice is part of more than 10 million tonnes of milled rice accrued from the government's rice pledging programme that started on Oct 7, 2011. The government has spent about 260 billion baht on buying 17 million tonnes of paddy under the pledging prices of 15,000 baht a tonne for unmilled white rice, and 20,000 baht for Hom Mali fragrant paddy.
Economists and opposition parties have levelled accusations of widespread corruption in the pledging plan, including the use of smuggled low-priced grain from neighbouring countries to take advantage of the pledging scheme's high price, and the use of the same paddy to apply for the pledge more than once. Millers, authorities, politicians and farmers are being blamed for the corruption.
Mr Boonsong said to counter the charges, a sub-committee to monitor the programme will inspect the readiness of all relevant parties before the pledging for new season begins next month.
