Foreign Trade Department director-general Apiradi Tantraporn yesterday said the ministry believed it would receive better bids than in the last round, due to the current high global demand for rice.

The coming round will also offer good quality rice from the 2004-05 and 2005-06 harvest seasons.

The ministry cancelled last September's auction of white rice, because tenders came in lower than the market price.

Jasmine rice from 2005-06 is now trading at US$550 (Bt19,200) per tonne, while 100-per-cent white rice is fetching $321.

Apiradi said if the upcoming bids were below the market price or unacceptable to the ministry, then the sale would be cancelled, and the ministry would turn instead to government-to-government deals.

Government deals would increase Thailand's share in the world's rice-trading system, with the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia as the major targets, he said.

The ministry will focus more on Indonesia and the Philippines, which have set import quotas at a lower level for Thailand than Vietnam, their largest rice supplier.

The Philippines' rice-import demand is predicted to reach 2 million tonnes this year.

Vietnam recently won a rice-bidding session with the Philippine government.

Thailand remains the world's largest rice exporter, followed by Vietnam.

The ministry is confident Thailand will achieve its goal of 8.5 million tonnes of rice exports this year, due to droughts in many rice-grow-ing countries and ministry plans to promote Thai rice abroad.

The ministry has been spreading the word about Thai jasmine rice in China and high-quality parboiled rice in Africa, both of which are major rice importers.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation