Auction on over 660,000 tonnes of rice

BANGKOK, August 11 (TNA) - More than 40 private-run rice trading firms have participated in a rice auction amounting 668,228 tonnes to be launched by the Commerce Ministry’s Foreign Trade Department, officials said Tuesday. Officials said a total of 58 rice trading firms have been qualified to contest in the auction and by early today more than 40 of them had submitted their bidding prices. The bidding was scheduled to end at noon. So far the government had organised eight rice auctions amounting about 3.9 million tonnes and could earn 41 billion baht. Official statistics released by the ministry showed that the government has rice in warehouses totaling 15.11 million tonnes across Thailand at the end of June this year. The government is trying to release a large amount of rice stored at warehouses, bought by the previous toppled government from farmers on the rice-pledging programme which is accused of tainted with massive corruption. (TNA)