The government has imposed strict criteria for bidders interested in participating in the state's first auction of 3.66 million tonnes of rice unfit for human consumption to ensure the grains are not sold on the normal rice market.

According to the terms of reference revealed yesterday, qualified bidders are required to be juristic persons with an industrial factory licence, explain the purpose the rice will be used for, and guarantee it will only be used for industrial purposes.

Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said state officials have pledged to pursue strict inspections of the rice after the auction to ensure that the poor-quality grains will not be mixed with good-quality rice and sold in the normal market for human consumption.

The department called the first auction for 3.66 million tonnes of grain unfit for human consumption on Tuesday this week and invited interested bidders to hear the terms of reference yesterday. Qualified bidders will be allowed to submit their bids on March 23.

The state rice stocks to be sold for industrial use cover 17 types of poor-quality grains including hom mali fragrant rice, white rice, glutinous rice and broken rice stored across 278 state warehouses in 39 provinces.

Mrs Duangporn said the government is also scheduled to announce the terms of reference for the auction of 1 million tonnes of decaying rice stored for more than five years for ethanol production by April.

Since the May 2014 coup, 10.1 million tonnes of rice have been sold via 24 auctions, fetching 104 billion baht.

State-held rice stocks have fallen by about 6.5 million tonnes from the 18.7 million accumulated during 2011-14.

The Commerce Ministry reported that as of March 8, Thailand had shipped a total of 2.11 million tonnes, up 0.7% year-on-year, fetching 31.8 billion baht, down 3% year-on-year.

This year, the government expects to be able to export at least 9.5 million tonnes, slightly below last year's figure.

Last year, Thailand shipped 9.88 million tonnes of milled rice, up 0.9%, valued at $4.4 billion.

Thailand trailed only India, which exported 10.43 million tonnes of rice last year, while Vietnam shipped 4.95 million tonnes.

Source:
courtesy of BANGKOK POST

by Bangkok Post

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