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Published on September 12, 2007

"The market is waiting for the government to gradually release its rice to serve market demand. Continuous bidding will increase confidence among rice exporters and importers that they will have enough supply," president Chookiat Ophawongse said.

Frequent bidding should not cause the price to drop, as demand is strong globally and this is just before the end of the harvest season.

While some traders are afraid that the bidding for government rice would lead to declining prices, Chookiat said prices should not drop significantly. They would in fact be more stable if the government gradually released inventory before the new crop enters the market in November.

The government last week opened bidding for 540,000 tonnes of white rice for exporters and domestic traders. It has not yet announced the winners. The government will still have 3.5 million tonnes, mostly white rice, remaining in stock.

Chookiat said the country should achieve exports of 8 million tonnes of rice this year after shipping out 5.4 million tonnes in the first eight months.

He also expressed concern about the smuggling of sticky rice from Cambodia, after the domestic price climbed to Bt25 per kilogram against Cambodia's Bt17.

He called for the government to stringently control smuggling along border provinces, as Cambodia and Laos might be growing genetically modified (GM) sticky rice.

"Sticky-rice smuggling from neighbouring countries would harm Thai rice's image as the country is the world's largest rice exporter and guarantees non-GM crops," he said.

Meanwhile, to prevent rice pilferage in 422 warehouses in 35 provinces, the government has sent teams of inspectors to each province.

Yanyong Phuangrach, deputy permanent secretary of the Commerce Ministry, said the officials would thoroughly check all warehouses, particular those in seven provinces where unscrupulous millers and corrupt officials of the Public Warehouse Organisation have been found.

Those provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Uthai Thani, Chai Nat and Suphan Buri.

Yanyong said that after inspecting all warehouses, the ministry would turn to investigating government officials and millers.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai, The Nation