BANGKOK, 27 July 2015, The Ministry of Commerce has delayed the auction date for inferior rice in its stockpile, from the end of this month to the beginning of next month, allowing more time for officials to conduct a thorough survey and separate quality grains from inferior ones.
According to Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikanya, he has ordered ministry officials, academics, the National Farmers Council, surveyors, rice sellers, and the Thailand Development Research Institute to inspect silos where government’s rice has been stored .
These officials are to thoroughly inspect 1.29 million tons of the supposedly low quality rice in the ministry’s stockpile as well as estimating the cost of improving the grains for various purposes.
After the examination, the officials would determine whether the rice should be sold in smaller portions or as an entire silo. They would also separate inferior grains from the rice to be sold for public consumption.
Auction winners have been told to strictly use these grains for particular purposes, the Minister said, adding that his ministry would later conduct follow-up inspections to make sure that the low-quality rice would not be sold for public consumption.
General Chatchai also disclosed that the auction of around 400-500,000 tons of quality grains scheduled for next week would go ahead as planned.
