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Over 30,000 tonnes of rice to be released from state stockpiles

Sunday, 17 March 2013 By MCOT

BANGKOK, March 16 – More than 30,000 tonnes of rice under the government’s subsidy scheme will be sold to two state enterprises in a move to release accumulating grains from the state’s stockpile.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said after a meeting of the subcommittee on rice distribution on Friday that 20,000 tonnes of rice will be sold to the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) and 10,000 tonnes to the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF) to be packed into bags for sale in the country.

Prices offered by the two organisations were too low, he said, adding they were told to revise and resubmit more suitable pricing at the next meeting.

Friday’s meeting also instructed the PWO to pack Hom Mali (fragrant) rice in five-kg bags for export to China with a total volume of 20,000 tonnes at the price of US$1,100 per tonne, the minister said.

The Commerce Ministry is holding huge stockpiles of rice purchased from farmers at Bt15,000 per tonne under the government's highly-criticised rice pledging scheme.