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Published on October 25, 2007

This bidding is expected to be the last this year before the beginning of next month's pledging programme. It will also help the government by leaving only two million tonnes of rice in its stockpiles, Pisut Chalakornkul, president of the Public Warehouse Organisation said yesterday.

"The auction will respond to rising global demand and lower supply by rice exporting rivals, and should not cause the rice price to drop in the market," he said.

Under the bidding plan, the ministry is expected to obtain about Bt22 billion from the total bidding of 1.05 million tonnes of rice from bidding this year.

Pisut said the government could not estimate whether it would make a profit or a loss from the bidding. However, the government is in a position to release huge stockpiles of rice as a result of excessive stockpiles of up to 4.4 million tonnes this year.

Meanwhile, the Internal Trade Department will tomorrow meet with manufacturers from the food and beverage sector, including Thai President Foods - manufacturer of Mama instant noodles - to discuss a final agreement on whether to allow price increases.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

 The Nation