The government remains upbeat about Thailand's rice exports, predicting an average of 700,000-800,000 tonnes a month to reach an annual total of 9.5 million tonnes, as expected.
Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said potential rice buyers are expecting lower rice output from the drought, igniting demand for rice and raising prices.
The free-on-board 5% white rice prices are now quoted at US$390-400 a tonne compared with $370 a tonne early this year.
Despite the poor global economy, Thailand shipped 2.64 million tonnes of rice between Jan 1 and March 29, up 27% from the same period last year, fetching 41.5 billion baht, up 18%. In dollar terms, the shipments were worth $1.16 billion, up 7.8% year-on-year.
Last year rice exports totalled 9.79 million tonnes, down 10.7% year-on-year, with export values of $4.61 billion, down 15.2%.
She said to increase rice sales, the department would call the third rice auction this year for 400,000-500,000 tonnes of state rice stocks after the Songkran festival. The auction will include grains categorised as Grade P, which passed ministry certification, Grades A and B, and Grade C (substandard quality) for industrial use.
The Commerce Ministry reported the government's second rice auction this year for 418,000 tonnes of milled rice drew mass interest, with 14 of 42 qualified bidders submitting the highest prices for the whole lot. Some 292,000 tonnes of the lot were white rice, with combined sales totalling 4.43 billion baht.
The department is scheduled to allow interested bidders to submit their purchase proposals today to buy 223,000 tonnes of substandard rice stocks for industrial use.
Since the May 2014 coup, a combined 5.05 million tonnes of rice have been sold via 13 auctions, fetching 53.9 billion baht, while government-to-government deals sold 3.8 million tonnes for 50 billion.
The government estimates it has 12 million tonnes in its rice stocks, down from 18.7 million from various rice pledging schemes. The schemes bought rice from farmers at prices 40% higher than market rates from 2011-14, hurting the competitiveness of Thai rice in the export market, leading to huge stockpiles.
Authorities are speeding up rice sales to prevent further losses, especially from rotten rice that has been kept for years in warehouses.