According to Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai, results of the rice sales would be submitted soon to the cabinet for acknowledgement to prevent a repeat of the dispute that arose over a proposed auction of mortgaged corn.

The commerce minister was reportedly locked in a clash with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Wednesday's cabinet meeting, after the premier put the brakes on the ministry's proposal to auction 449,000 tonnes of field corn from the mortgage stock worth more than 2 billion baht for fear of losses.

The premier's veto reportedly frustrated Mrs Porntiva, who insisted the auction was under the authority of the commerce minister, who chairs the ministry's marketing subcommittee, which approved the auction on March 31. Mrs Porntiva said yesterday that the argument with the premier was not as serious as had been reported.

She also insisted the ministry would resubmit its corn-bidding decision to the cabinet next week, or the government would risk lawsuits from bidding winners and losing a large sum of money from the continuing drop in corn prices.

She said the winning bidders for the government's rice sales include leading rice exporters such as Chaiyaporn Rice, Capital Rice, Asia Golden Rice, Chia Meng and Siam Indiga and C.P. Intertrade.

Mrs Porntiva said the selling prices were regarded as satisfactory, despite being relatively lower than current market prices.

Current market prices stand at about 16,500 baht per tonne, while the government's pledging prices including rice processing and related warehousing costs are about 24,000 to 28,000 baht per tonne. That means the government stands to lose up to 20 billion baht from the rice sale, according to an industry source.

However, the minister said the time was ripe for releasing the state rice stockpile, as any delays would lead the government to more losses because rice prices are under pressure to drop due to the global economic recession and oversupply.

To curb a price drop, Mrs Porntiva and Vietnam's minister for industry and trade, Vu Huy Hoang, agreed yesterday to exchange in-depth information about rice trade, pricing, production and processing.

Besides state officials, exporters and farmers of the two countries will also engage in this co-operation.

Source: Bangkok Post