RICE BIDDING
Exporters asked to cooperate
Ministry expects to offload much of its stockpile
The Commerce Ministry will meet major rice exporters on Friday to ask for their cooperation in the bidding by which the government plans to reduce its enormous stockpile of 3.3 million tonnes. About 2.9 million tonnes of the stockpile is white rice from the 2005-2006 harvest. The remainder is jasmine rice and white paddy. A high-level source from the ministry said late last week that because the bulk stock was a heavy financial burden on the ministry, Commerce Minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet had enacted a policy to accelerate release of the rice. The market price for 100-per-cent white rice is about US$312 (Bt11,690) per tonne. The source said that in the meeting on Friday the minister intended to ask the Kingdom's leading rice-traders and exporters to purchase the rice. Those invited to the meeting include representatives of President Agri Trading, Capital Rice and CP Intertrade. "The ministry will call for a suitable price in a bid to release rice stockpiles and stabilise the market price for rice," the source said. Meanwhile, the ministry is considering changing its rice-pledging programme so that it purchases only 0 per cent of farmers' rice. Currently the ministry purchases all rice grown, amounting to about nine million tonnes a year. In compensation, the ministry says it will provide farmers with low-cost raw materials such as fertiliser. The source said the change in the pledging programme would not only allow the sustainable trading of Thai rice but also help stabilise rice prices on the world market. Thailand is the world's largest rice-exporter. According to a study by the ministry, the new rice-pledging method will satisfy both farmers and traders. The ministry said the new system would give farmers a choice of where to sell their rice. It said the current government pledging programme guaranteed farmers d the lowest price in the market. As more traders and millers begin competing to buy rice from farmers, the government hopes to decrease its financial burden of renting warehouses and maintaining stockpiles. Corruption by millers and surveyors is expected to decrease.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
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