Monthly rice bids, audits promised

Monthly rice bids, audits promised

The government plans to call for bids on at least 300,000 tonnes of rice every month, and pledges to disclose all information on government rice sales as well as re-audit controversial loss figures from the pledging scheme.

Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan said Monday the government intends to dispose of its rice stocks as fast as possible and that rice bids would be processed on a transparent basis. The first is expected to be called by the end of this month.

"The bids may be called two to three times a month for about 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes each," he said. "But the prices should not be below market prices."

He said information about how the rice stocks are released will also be available to the public.

He added the ministry will speed up deliveries of rice to countries that have concluded agreements with Thailand, and send a team to actively negotiate rice sales.

"We will reveal information about government-to-government rice sales such as country of destination and volume, but the price should be kept confidential, as it is a sensitive issue," he said.

The government recently accepted it posted losses of 136 billion baht from rice pledging during the scheme's first year, as originally reported by a Finance Ministry panel.

The loss is based on all expenses in the scheme in its first year - the 2011-12 crop year - including management costs, interest expenses and the estimated value of remaining rice stocks.

The calculated price was based on the lowest market price on the closing date of Jan 31.

In the scheme's first year, the state spent 352 billion baht on 21.7 million tonnes of rice.

The value of the remaining rice stocks is estimated at 156 billion baht, while sales of pledged rice are estimated at 59.2 billion baht. Total losses are thus 136 billion baht.

The Rice Policy Committee has not put a figure on losses for the second year - the 2012-13 crop season - but the Finance Ministry panel estimated first-crop losses for the second year at 84 billion baht.

Permanent secretary for finance Supa Piyajitti, who heads a Finance Ministry team assessing the accounts of the scheme, told the Senate last week that if figures from Feb 1 until May 31 are taken into account, the combined losses could be much higher.

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