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The Commerce Ministry is scheduled to open the rice bidding for almost 1 million tonnes of rice on January 29, under the government’s plan to release up to 10 million tonnes of rice stockpiles within this year.

It will be the fifth rice bidding under the current military-government and the first bidding of the year. From the total amount of rice bidding, 850,000 tonnes will be 5 per cent white rice, and 150,000 tonnes of Hom Mali rice.

Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general to the Foreign Trade Department, said unlike other bidding, the government will release rice for the whole warehouse so that the government can clear up stockpiles urgently.

Previously, the government allowed traders to select rice piles of their choosing in each warehouse.

Palm oIl plan

reduces dIesel cost

Chavalit Pichalai, director of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said the government’s decision to halve palm oil content in diesel oil to 3.5 per cent to alleviate the shortage of palm oil supply, has reduced the cost of diesel by Bt0.60 a litre. As a result, the marketing margin of oil retailers has soared to Bt2.30 a litre, compared to an appropriate level of Bt1.50 a litre.

Hence, the office will ask the Energy Policy Administrative Committee to increase its Oil Fund’s levy on diesel and may also ask oil companies to reduce the retail prices of diesel. Nevertheless, the diesel price will not fall lower than Bt25 a litre, compared to Bt25.49 at present, he said.

The Energy Ministry is also preparing to propose an increase of excise tax on diesel from the current Bt3.25 a litre rate, to about Bt4-Bt5 a litre, to make it closer to taxes on gasohol and petrol that are currently Bt5.60 and Bt5.04 a litre, respectively. The tax hike will not affect retail prices since it will be offset by a cut of Oil Fund’s levy.

FIVE applIcants

VIE FOR top TAT job

Four outsiders and one internal candidate have submitted applications to become the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), to be selected by the end of March this year.

The four from outside the TAT are Nalikatibhag Sangsnit, director-general of Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration, Phet Chinnabut, ex- director of the National Food Institute (NFI), Sorayuth Phettrakul of Sam Prasit Limited Partnership, and Yuthasak Supasorn, adviser to the Institute for Good Governance Promotion. The lone TAT applicant is Somrak Kumputch, deputy governor for human resources and management. An official at the national tourism agency said all five candidates were from different organisations, in contrast to previous years when many of the applicants were internal.

The successful applicant will replace Thawatchai Arunyik, who will end his term as governor at the end of March this year.

The closing date for applications was last month. All the applicants will soon propose their visions and master plans for tourism to the governor selection committee.