Thailand has released a large amount of rice from the total of 5.6 million tonnes in the government's stockpiles during the past few months, Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said.

However, she refused to reveal the exact volume on concerns that it could affect the market price.

Porntiva said that ministry would continue to release rice stocks through several channels, including selling directly to traders, under government to government contracts, and via the Agriculture Future Exchange of Thailand.

"The government will carefully manage our stockpiles. We cannot announce how much rice has been released. However, none of the deals have created losses for the country," she said.

Porntiva said the government still had rice in reserve as a security stock for domestic consumption. Normally, the Kingdom must have 1 million to 1.5 million tonnes of rice in its a reserve stockpile.

In the past few months, the ministry was reported releasing three lots of rice from its stockpiles. In early August, it released 1 million tonnes of rice to three exporters, and 600,000 tonnes of rice to three other exporters.

The ministry recently agreed to sell 1.1 million tonnes of rice to one exporter.

Despite being investigated over the transparency of the releasing process, Porntiva insisted the ministry would continue to release rice stockpiles as the timing dictated, through clear procedures.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last Thursday ordered an investigation into the latest release of 1.1 million tonnes to MT Centertrade, noting concerns over the transparency of the process and the company's capability of buying such a large amount of rice.

Porntiva said the ministry had followed the National Rice Policy's mandate to release stockpiles. It had also obtained a good price from the bidders. The ministry will send a report to the prime minister to explain all the procedures of releasing stockpiles, she said.

Source: The Nation