Thai Govt Gets Top Bid Of $292.46/Ton For 5% Broken Rice
May 28,2007 00:00
by
dailynews
A Thai government rice tender attracted bids from sixexporters for the white 5% broken rice grade Thursday, with Chiayaporn Rice Co.
offering the highest prices, a government official said Friday.
Chiayaporn Rice bid for around 122,549 metric tons of 5% broken rice at
$292.46/ton, free-on-board Bangkok, said Apiradi Tantraporn, director general
of the Department of Foreign Trade.
Bids from other exporters ranged from $285 to $290/ton, FOB Bangkok, Apiradi
said.
Thai 5% broken rice is currently offered in the open market for around
$317/ton, FOB Bangkok.
The Commerce Ministry offered for sale about 400,000 tons of rice accumulated
under its 2004-05 and 2005-06 price intervention programs. Of the total, 93,000
tons is jasmine fragrant rice from the 2004-05 crop year, around 200,000 tons
is white 5% broken rice from the 2005-06 crop year, and 100,000 tons is 100%
white rice from both crop years.
For the jasmine fragrant rice, which was bid in baht terms, ex-warehouse
Bangkok, 11 bidders offered prices ranging from THB10,000 to THB14,850/ton,
Apiradi said.
The government still holds around 1 million tons of jasmine rice, with the
open market price around THB19,000/ton.
Apiradi said the ministry will negotiate with the bidders to seek higher
prices and expects to finalize deals in one or two days.
Any finalized bids are subject to approval by Commerce Minister Krirkkrai
Jirapaet next week, she said.
The auction was aimed not only at accelerating the clearing out of inventory,
but also at meeting overseas demand.