Bidders interested in buying Thai government's 10-year rice

Bidders interested in buying Thai government's 10-year rice (Photo: Thailand's Ministry of Commerce)

Bangkok – A total of eight companies have shown their interests in participating in the government’s 10-year rice auction, according to the Thai Ministry of Commerce's spokesmen Wittayakorn Maneenetr.

He quoted a report of the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) on progress regarding the release of the final stocks of 15,000 tonnes of 100% Thai hom mali jasmine rice left over from the controversial rice pledging scheme from the Kittichai and Poolphol warehouses.

Wittayakorn said the PWO invited interested companies to submit documents to certify their qualifications on June 10, with eight exporters filing bid papers from various provinces including Kamphaeng Phet, Chai Nat, Nakhon Sawan, Suphan Buri and Ubon Ratchathani.

The list of qualified bidders is scheduled to be released on June 13, with qualified bidders allowed to submit bids on June 17 from 9am to noon. Winners are slated to be announced on June 21.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Phumtham Wechayachai said the bidding is expected to generate revenue of about 270 million THB (7.35 million USD) and reduce storage costs, which are as high as 380,000 THB per month.

According to Customs Department data, Thai rice exports during the first four months of the year amounted to 3.4 million tonnes with a value of 78.5 billion THB, up 29.1% and 60.7% year-on-year, respectively.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association anticipated rice export volumes of more than 900,000 tonnes in May 2024, as exporters have contracts to deliver large amounts of rice, particularly white rice, with government-to-government contracts to Indonesia and private sales to markets in Asia such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan. Sales are also slated to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central America.

Phumtham revealed that Thailand’s key rice export markets include the US, Canada, Hong Kong (China) , Singapore, France and the UK.

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