The Commerce Ministry will soon release jasmine rice from recently pledged stocks to increase the supply in the market after the main harvest season ended, but it is keeping quiet on how it will open bidding.
Permanent secretary Yanyong Phuangrach said yesterday that besides jasmine rice, Pathum Thani rice would be made available to traders soon, but the method and details would not be made public. They would come under special conditions.
The ministry refused to specify the quantity of stocks to be sold, saying that could affect current market prices. Reportedly 6.77 million tonnes of paddy rice was mortgaged by farmers under the scheme from the main crop, of which 3.07 million tonnes was jasmine rice.
The ministry will release only fragrant rice to minimise the impact on local prices. It will not yet release white rice, as the government has extended the pledging project to the second harvest season, which runs from early this month to June.
The ministry will only release about 40,000 tonnes of broken rice from its inventory to both domestic traders and exporters from today to Friday.
A rice-trader source said the government was expected to release a small lot of jasmine rice as demand in the market is quite stable, while Thai jasmine rice is much more expensive than other countries' fragrant rice.
About 300,000 tonnes of jasmine rice should be released, the source said. However, the government will have to shoulder some losses from the high pledging price of Bt20,000 per tonne of paddy, as the current jasmine price is too high compared with rivals'.
Thai jasmine rice is quoted at US$1,116 per tonne, while Vietnamese fragrant rice is asking $580 a tonne.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry's consumer confidence index last month rose to 25.8 points from 24.2 points in January, thanks to the positive outlook for future income, despite higher fuel prices.
The survey results, based on 3,075 responses, showed that consumer sentiment has recovered gradually after taking a major blow during the floods.
The increase in the minimum wage and the flood-recovery measures of the government are expected to boost confidence in the following months, Yanyong said.
However, there are still some negative factors that could cool consumer confidence - rising fuel prices, the financial crisis in the euro zone, and a higher cost of living, he added.
Source: The Nation
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