The Government of Thailand has decided to hold off on a plan to sell 300,000 tonnes of stockpiled rice through the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) and suspend rice auctions.
The moves are aimed at curbing the decline of rice prices.
However, according to the Thai Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Yanyong Poungrat, rice contracts already signed or planned to be signed with foreign governments will still be honoured, as they do not affect the price of rice on the domestic market.
Poungrat said the Thai government will not put its rice reserves on the domestic market until the price goes up and stabilises.
Rice prices in Thailand tumbled last month, mainly due to trader anxiety that the government would sell 500,000 tonnes of rice from its stock.
Earlier, in a bid to prevent the rice prices from sagging, the Thai cabinet instructed relevant agencies to purchase rice directly from farmers and spent 20 billion baht (around 606 million USD) on rice farm subsidies./.
The moves are aimed at curbing the decline of rice prices.
However, according to the Thai Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Yanyong Poungrat, rice contracts already signed or planned to be signed with foreign governments will still be honoured, as they do not affect the price of rice on the domestic market.
Poungrat said the Thai government will not put its rice reserves on the domestic market until the price goes up and stabilises.
Rice prices in Thailand tumbled last month, mainly due to trader anxiety that the government would sell 500,000 tonnes of rice from its stock.
Earlier, in a bid to prevent the rice prices from sagging, the Thai cabinet instructed relevant agencies to purchase rice directly from farmers and spent 20 billion baht (around 606 million USD) on rice farm subsidies./.
