Extra tender 16 winners secure over 1M tonne of rice from stocks

Altogether 16 rice exporters and millers have enjoyed a windfall from the Commerce Ministry's extra tender of more than one million tonnes of the grain from the government's stocks.

Commerce Minister Chaiya Sasomsub had approved the release of a huge lot from its warehouses as his last act at the ministry.

The ministry claimed that it could generate an extra Bt1.9 billion from bargaining with all 16 winners, which had offered Bt10.7 billion for the whole lot. The bargaining is expected to bring the government up to Bt12.63 billion in total.

Ponglarb - the third largest rice exporter - won the biggest lot of rice from this bidding, despite not offering the highest price. It secured 280,330 tonnes of white rice out of the total of 914,850 tonnes on auction.

Its winning bid was Bt15,100-Bt16,520 per tonne, while other winners offered 14,000-Bt16,550.

The five largest winners of white rice were Chaiyaporn Rice at 265,419 tonnes, Asia Golden Rice at 171,850 tonnes, Capital Cereal at 125,443 tonnes and Siam Indiga at 25,957 tonnes.

The ministry has also released 191,977 tonnes of jasmine and Pathumthani rice to other bidders. Chaiyaporn Rice won the biggest lot of the fragrant rice at 37,106 tonnes, followed by Ponglarb and Capital Cereal.

To accelerate the emptying of the government's warehouses, the Public Warehouse Organisation would soon sign a contract with the United Kingdom to sell jasmine rice in European Union markets.

A ministry source said the strategy would not only help clear out the government's bulging warehouses but also help add value to Thai rice.

Initially, about 20,000-30,000 tonnes of rice will be traded next year in the EU under the PWO's brandname.

A Mexican trader has also expressed interest in becoming the PWO's sales agent for Thai rice in the Latin America market.