CP Intertrade and Chia Meng look likely to win the bidding after increasing their original price offers after the ministry asked all bidders to up the ante.

The ministry might not release the entire 420,000-tonne rice stock of after some bidders refused to increase their bids as the ministry had hoped, according to a ministry source who asked for anonymity.

"The ministry wanted to bargain with traders in order to get higher offers, but some did not response to our demands. The ministry may sell off less than 100,000 tonnes if we are unable to get higher prices," the source said.

The ministry opened its second auction for jasmine rice from the last two harvest years last Monday. Results should be in next week. The ministry said it had to bargain to get the best prices for the country.

Sumeth Laomoraphorn, president of CP Intertrade, said the company had increased its offer price because of high demand in the market.

However, the firm did not bid for the whole rice lot and other companies have increased their offers. As a result, Sumeth said he was unsure if his company would win the bidding war.

"If the company wins the auction, we might gain very little from these rice stock because we have to pay for rice-quality adjustment," he said.

Rice exporters usually have to pay between $25 to $30 per tonne to improve the quality of rice that has sat in warehouses for long periods of time.

Executives at Chia Meng were unavailable for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, many rice traders have called on the government to release its rice stockpiles due to high demand in the world market.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation