Thailand to open second rice auction in 2017

Illustrative image (Source: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s government has announced a plan to organise the second rice auction in 2017 with a total volume of up to 1.82 million tonnes.

Interested buyers could examine the rice’s quality before bidding on May 24. The result of the auction is scheduled to be announced in the first week of June.

The auction is expected to attract many businesses as it is the final batch of rice put for sale this year, said Duangporn Rodphaya, Director General of the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign Trade.  

To date, the Thai government has stocked 4.82 million tonnes of rice, much lower than the volume of 18.7 million tonnes between 2011-2014.

A total of 11.7 million tonnes of rice was sold by auction for 112 billion THB from May 2014 to mid April 2017.

In the first five months of this year, Thailand exported 4.1 million tonnes of rice, up 9 percent, earning 1.74 billion USD, up 6 percent against last year.-VNA