The state-run Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) is marketing its packaged rice and will expand into logistics as the latest business restructuring attempt to raise income.

Puthisat Namdech, the PWO's acting president, said the organisation was proposing to amend a royal decree to allow the PWO to become more commercially flexible and operate a wider scope of businesses beyond agriculture.

The planned amendment should be completed within two months before being forwarded to the cabinet for consideration and endorsement.

Mr Puthisat said the organisation was looking forward to expanding to other businesses such as logistics and transport services to make use of its warehouses scattered nationwide.

It owns and operates seven warehouses and two wharfs at Bukkhalo and Rat Burana. Other warehouses are in the Bua Yai and Pak Chong districts of Nakhon Ratchasima, Ban Phai in Khon Kaen, Sawankhalok in Sukhothai and Thap Kwang in Saraburi.

The PWO next month plans to launch its packaged rice products under the PWO brand for 100% premium Thai Hom Mali rice, special 5% white rice, organic Hom Mali brown rice and Sangyod Muang Phattalung rice both in the local and international markets.

Domestically the brand will be made available through national distribution outlets including the Tesco Lotus hypermarket chain.

The rice will be about 20-30 baht cheaper for a five-kilogramme package than other brands, he said.

The organisation expects to sell about 17,000 tonnes its first year of offering packaged rice, with 5,000 tonnes sold locally and 12,000 tonnes in the international market. It expects the international market will consist mainly of the Middle East, England and the United States. In most markets it will be called 'Taste of Thai', but in China it will be called 'Jin Tai Yu'.

Apart from rice, the PWO also plans to expand marketing to cover dried longan and Thai fruits.

It has been struggling to stay afloat after the government scrapped the agricultural product pledging programmes that had been its main task.

The PWO earlier planned to function as a trading firm as part of a restructuring plan and signed a memorandum of understanding on a controversial silo leasing deal last September with GGF Group, a Malaysian-Thai joint venture that was to set up silos in several provinces: Roi Et, Surin, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Sukhothai, Chainat, Suphan Buri, Saraburi and Ratchaburi.

GGF planned to invest US$200 million to build, own and operate 400 high-tech silos in 10 provinces, with the capacity to store 2 million tonnes of rice.

But the government scrapped the deal amid growing complaints by local rice exporters who feared GGF might undercut rice prices, hurting overall exports.

Local rice exporters were also sceptical about GGF's financing. It reported registered capital of only 1 million baht, and some traders suspected the company had been founded by special interests just to earn commissions.
Concern grew when the Department of Special Investigation and the Finance Ministry began looking into questions about the legal status of GGF Thailand. They wanted to determine whether it was a nominee of a foreign firm, and to check whether the agreement with the PWO was in line with the 1992 Joint Public-Private Investment Law. The findings are still pending.

Source: Bangkok Post