The military regime plans to restart sales of state rice stocks next month, vowing to move an average of 500,000 tonnes a month and dispose of the existing 18-million-tonne surplus within three years.
Military personnel inspect rice at a state warehouse in Ayutthaya's Phachi district. The inspections, which began earlier this month, have focused on rice amounts and grain quality. SUNTHORN PONGPAO
According to Duangporn Rodphaya, the newly appointed director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, the state rice stocks will be sold mainly through four channels: general auction, government-to-government, direct sales and the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand.
"With the rice checks commissioned by the military government, we can now roughly appraise the quality of rice and the amount of rice in state stocks," said Ms Duangporn, who was appointed shortly after the junta named Chutima Bunyapraphasara as the new commerce permanent secretary to replace Srirat Rastapana.
Ms Duangporn is known to have expertise in the rice trade.
The department is also committed to revising selling conditions to make them flexible and based on the quality of rice grain and avoiding selling state stocks on a whole-warehouse basis.
In the event of a later dispute or questions about the quality of rice sold, buyers would be allowed to negotiate with authorities.
Ms Duangporn said the rice checks have so far found that degraded or deteriorated rice makes up 20% of the overall stockpile.
Large-scale rice inspections, prompted by the former Yingluck Shinawatra government's failed pledging scheme, began earlier this month.
Following the directive of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), inspectors have divided into 100 teams, each of which consists of between six and 10 people chosen from military and police units as well as agencies such as the Public Warehouse Organisation and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.
They initially planned to finish inspecting 18 million tonnes of pledged rice later this month, but it is likely they may not be able to complete the task in time with the current number of inspectors.
Prime Minister's Office inspector-general Chirachai Munthong, who was assigned to help oversee the wide-ranging inspections, said recently the deadline would be postponed to some time in August.
Ms Duangporn insisted the authorities would not hasten rice sales, given that the pressure is off for speeding up proceeds to pay farmers owed under the rice-pledging scheme.
Moreover, a possible widespread drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon will accordingly reduce supply and offer a good opportunity for Thailand to sell a more diverse selection of rice.
"Roughly, we aim to sell at least 500,000-600,000 tonnes a month, and we're upbeat that Thailand can ship up to 10 million tonnes this year," said Ms Duangporn, adding that the Foreign Trade Department also aims to sell the existing 18 million tonnes of rice stocks in three years.
Methods for disposing of the massive rice stocks will be presented at today's NCPO meeting.
Ms Duangporn said several countries have shown an interest in buying Thai rice, including China and various Middle Eastern, Asian and African nations.
"The past experience in which the state sought to buy every single grain of rice from farmers was a costly lesson," she said.
"The scheme not only undermined the overall rice market structure, but also caused a lot of problems. To prevent any future losses, we must introduce a new mechanism in rice management and monitor state rice stocks more closely and prudently."
Ms Chutima, meanwhile, vowed yesterday to restore the Commerce Ministry's integrity and reputation.
She also pledged to amend any rules and regulations deemed as obstacles to trade or private-sector investment.
"We've confirmed that under the military regime there will no longer be a rice-pledging programme or farmer income guarantee," she said. "If necessary, we may need to intervene in the market to shore up prices."