The Commerce Ministry is under mounting pressure to cancel its controversial rice-trading deal with MT Centertrade, which won the bid for a big lot of government stocks, as the main harvest season starts early next month.

"The new crop will enter the market soon. The delay in releasing stocks will cause rice prices to drop, as the market will acknowledge that the government still has a huge inventory of rice," Niphond Wongtra-ngan, an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri, said yesterday.

The ministry should force the company to sign the rice-purchasing agreement and pay the 5-per-cent guarantee within two weeks, otherwise the government will face a big loss from the delay, he said.

Niphond, who is on one of seven committees considering the release of the government's farm goods, said he would make these recommendations to Trairong and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

MT Centertrade won a bid for 1.5 million tonnes of government rice worth Bt18 billion at the auction on September 24. However, it has not yet signed a contract with the ministry nor deposited about Bt900 million as a guarantee.

Niphond said the government should have the chance to sell the remaining supplies to other traders rather than wait for one exporter.

Rice prices have risen slightly in the past week, mainly because of the baht's appreciation.

As of yesterday, Thai hom mali rice was quoted at US$1,179 (Bt35,311) a tonne, up from $1,160 last week, while 100-per-cent white rice was trading at $511 a tonne, up from $510.

Source: The Nation