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| • EXCH RATES |
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Baht/$ 34.95/10 (Bid/Ask)
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GOLD |
12,250
+ 150
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POST REPORTERS
The government has agreed to sell 1.76 million tonnes of white rice and fragrant rice from its stockpiles to exporters.
But the amount approved yesterday fell short of the 3.1 million tonnes it aimed to sell through a tender held on Nov 5, as a sub-committee overseeing distribution of rice stocks agreed to scrap the tenders of exporters to buy 346,000 tonnes of old 25% white rice and one million tonnes of new milled rice harvested from the second crop of 2008.Commerce Minister Chaiya Sasomsab, who chaired the meeting, said bids for 1.76 million tonnes of old milled rice represented a good deal for the government, with 5% white rice sold to exporters at up to 15,000 baht a tonne.
Exporters tendered to buy 3.1 million tonnes of milled rice at an average of 14,000 baht per tonne. Of the total, 2.1 million tonnes are old rice bought between 2004 and 2006, and one million tonnes are new milled rice bought under the pledging scheme for the 2008 second crop, which offered farmers 14,000 baht a tonne for unmilled rice.
The grain to be sold is fragrant rice and 5% white rice bought unmilled under various intervention programmes at prices ranging from 6,000-9,000 baht per tonne. This rice will be milled.
The winning exporters include C.P. Intertrade, Capital Rice, Asia Golden Rice, Ponglarp, Chia Meng and Siam Indiga. Most of them won deals averaging 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes.
Exporters offered to buy 346,000 tonnes of 25% white rice at only 6,800 baht per tonne, much lower than the 12,000-baht cost. Tenders for one million tonnes of new milled rice were only 14,000 baht per tonne, but costs including milling and transport are estimated at 25,000 baht per tonne.
Mr Chaiya said the government preferred keeping the rice in its stocks to selling at a huge loss.
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