Commerce: 5 million tonnes of rice sold

Commerce: 5 million tonnes of rice sold

The Commerce Ministry has sold 5 million tonnes of rice from the previous administrations's pledging scheme, but the government is paying about a billion baht a month to store the 13.7 million tonnes remaining in the stockpile.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn revealed the details in answer to  questions about the rice stockpile's management raised by members of the National Legislative Assembly on Friday.

She said since the coup on May 22, 2014 the ministry had earned 52.3 billion baht from the sale of 5 million tonnes of rice.  There were still 13.7 million tonnes of unsold rice on hand.

The stockpile was accumulated under the rice pledging programme implemented by the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

She said 100 teams were appointed to inspect the rice stock nationwide. This revealed a total amount of 18.7 million tonnes. The condition of 12 million tonnes was around standard, and about 6 million tonnes  below the standard, with around 400,000 tonnes recorded as delivered found to be missing.

The ministry, which was responsible for the rice pledging scheme, had taken legal action against warehouse owners whose stocks were short of the recorded amount, or if the grain had deteriorated in quality.

There were another 300,000 million tonnes stored outside the contracted warehouses that must be kept as evidence for legal cases, the minister said. However, the Royal Thai Police Office on Oct 16 allowed the ministry to sell rice from the evidential stockpile.

Ms Apiradi said the ministry must pay about a billion baht a month in warehouse rent, storage and maintenance fees, fumigation, interest payments and insurance premiums.

She said the ministry had released grain though auctions, but would halt the auctions during the harvest season in November and December to support the paddy price in the domestic market. The auctions were aimied not only at rice traders but also at industries such as animal feed and alternative energy. 

Asked about the use of Section 44 of the interim charter to protect officials working on the rice pledging  cases, Ms Apiradi said the purpose was to ensure the officials had confidence they would not face disciplinary or legal charges sometime in the future if they performed their tasks honestly.

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