BANGKOK, 13 February 2014 17 bidders participated in Thursday’s auction to sell pledged rice through the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET).
The Commerce Ministry made known that the 220,000 tonne rice to be sold includes 167,000 tonnes of 5 percent white rice and 60,000 tonnes of Hom Mali grains.
Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach presided over the bidding process. He had expected the number of bidders to be high as the grains were harvested only late last year.
The auction is the fifth of its kind, with the first auction held in October of 2013.
The government is under pressure to sell rice in its stockpiles as farmers have been escalating their protests in demand for overdue payment in the rice-pledging scheme.
