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Thai Govt Sells 281,272 Tons Of Rice From Stocks In Tender
Jun 07,2007 00:00
by
dailynews
Thailand's Commerce Ministry sold 281,272 metric tons of rice from its reserves to 14 companies in a tender, the ministry said in a statement Thursday. The ministry had offered three rice grades totaling about 400,000 tons at an auction on May 24, but only sold 81,272 tons of jasmine fragrant rice to 10 companies at THB10,500-THB14,850/ton, and 200,000 tons of 5% broken white rice to four companies at $289.55-$311.38/ton, as some bids were below the ministry's expectations. The rice on offer was accumulated under its 2004-05 and 2005-06 price intervention programs, and comprised 93,000 tons of jasmine fragrant rice from the 2004-05 crop year, 200,000 tons of 5% broken white rice from the 2005-06 crop year, and around 100,000 tons of white rice 100% from both crop years. For jasmine fragrant rice, which was bid in baht terms, ex-warehouse Bangkok, 11 bidders offered prices ranging from THB10,000-THB14,850/ton. The ministry negotiated for higher prices and sold almost 90% of the jasmine fragrant rice on offer to bidders who agreed to raise their bids, the statement said. The ministry sold the entire quantity of 5% broken white rice it offered. It was bid in U.S. dollar terms on a free-on-board Bangkok basis, and six bidders offered prices ranging from $285.19- $292.46/ton. The ministry didn't sell any white rice 100%, as bids, which were in U.S dollars on a free-on-board Bangkok basis, were below market prices, the ministry said. The ministry will issue a new tender to sell the unsold rice and an additional 200,000-300,000 tons of jasmine fragrant and white rice, but a date hasn't been set, an official at the ministry said. The government periodically sells rice from its stocks to clear inventory and reduce storage costs of around THB2.8 billion a month, the ministry said. |