President Agri wins jasmine rice bid
President Agri Trading won the biggest lot of jasmine rice from last week's auction after raising its bid to Bt16,200 per tonne from Bt15,930.
The Kingdom's largest rice exporter sealed the deal after negotiations with the Commerce Ministry last week. The market price for the 2004/05 harvest is Bt15,500 per tonne. The ministry is selling 302,296 tonnes of rice from its stockpile to President Agri Trading, while Golden Harvest Rice Mills will get 3,257 tonnes at Bt16,500 per tonne. The two major rice traders were the highest bidders. The ministry had asked 34 companies with high bids to raise their offers but most of them declined to do so. "Only President Agri Trading and Golden Harvest Rice Mills consented to increase their offers above the market [price] so we decided to sell these lots of rice to them", Rachane Potjanasuntorn, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday. The ministry said the adjusted offers lifted sales from the auction by 8.7 per cent to Bt4.88 billion. The rice cost about Bt10,000 per tonne. Rachane said President Agri Trading was not monopolising the bidding process with its high offer, as other companies did not increase their offers, so President Agri Trading won the biggest lot of rice. President Apri Trading specialises in exporting white rice. It secured almost 1 million tonnes of government rice last year, and has never failed to participate in government auctions. The ministry cancelled the sale of 156,619 tonnes of jasmine rice from the 2005-06 season, after failing to persuade 15 bidders to raise their offers. The ministry may open bidding for this rice again. "Bidders refused to increase prices so we will not sell this rice stock because the market will demand it anyway," he said. Rice from the 2005-06 harvest season is trading at US$490 per tonne (Bt18,680), while the bidders offered $400-$461. Chia Meng, another leading rice exporter, failed in bidding for both harvests after it refused to increase its offers. The company said its offer for the older rice was the best it could make and was already better than other offers by $15 per tonne. It would have to spend $25-$30 per tonne for rice quality adjustment, it said.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
|
