BANGKOK, 16 May 2014 – The Commerce Ministry revealed that the auction of 200,000 tons of the government’s pledged rice through the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) has attracted 18 bidders.
Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach said that the 11th AFET rice auction offered more than 130,000 tons of white rice with 5% moisture content. The auction prices offered a 2.40 – 3.88 baht discount from the market price tag. The bidding was also able to sell 4,000 tons of 100% class-2 Jasmine fragrant rice at a price lower than the street value by 4.70 – 4.80 baht per kilo.
The deputy minister said the previous 10 AFET rice auctions had successfully sold 588,000 tons of stockpiled rice worth 7 billion baht, while assuring that the Commerce Ministry would soon be able to achieve its goal of selling 1 million tons of pledged rice.
Meanwhile, Department of Foreign Trade Director General, Surasak Riengkrue, indicated that the Commerce Ministry has already returned 20 billion baht it had borrowed from the government’s central budget. He said the Ministry would wait for a new government to form before deciding whether it would raise another loan.
