Govt to sell 8m tonnes from rice stocks this year
The government plans to sell 8 million tonnes of white rice inventory within this year, Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, permanent secretary at the Commerce Ministry, said on Wednesday after a meeting of the National Rice Policy Committee.
The inventory is part of rice stocks of 18 million tonnes accumulated from the rice subsidy scheme implemented by previous governments.
The 8 million tonnes comprise three grades of rice: 3 million tonnes food grade; 3.66 million tonnes industrial-use grade; and a million ton of rotten rice, which can be used only for alcohol production.
Last month, the Commerce Ministry put up 1.3 million tonnes of food-grade rice for auction and another 1.5 million tonnes will be put up for auction in May.
Nineteen traders are participating in the auction for industrial-use grade rice, she said.
RELATED