The Commerce Ministry reaffirmed yesterday that it could return Bt80 billion to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives this year to ensure smooth running of the rice-pledging project throughout next year.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the government will definitely have adequate liquidity to proceed with the price support measure for rice.

The BAAC recently discussed with the Finance Ministry about approving a loan of Bt150 billion for the 2012-13 harvest season, claiming that it has run out of funds to operate the pledging project.

Boonsong said the BAAC should not be facing any financial difficulty as his ministry has been gradually returning money from the previous pledging project to the bank. About Bt45 billion has already been given to the bank.

The government is projected to need about Bt150 billion to support the current round of rice pledging, which started last October and runs to September next year.

The ministry has made money from selling 7.32 million tonnes of rice under government-to-government contracts. This year about 1.8 million tonnes of rice should be delivered to buyers, and the rest would be shipped next year, he added.

Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said that from October 1-December 3, about 4.6 million tonnes of rice have entered the government's rice-pledging project.

About 1.2 million tonnes were paddy jasmine rice, 240,000 tonnes provincial fragrant rice, 10,000 tonnes Pathum Thani rice and the rest white rice.

About 6 million tonnes of rice are expected to enter the government's stocks this year, she added.

The ministry also reported that less fresh cassava has entered the government's pledging project due to high market prices. Fresh cassava is quoted at Bt2.35-Bt2.80 a kilogram in the market, while the pledging price is Bt2.60.

The government estimates about 10 million tonnes of cassava will be mortgaged, or half of the crop in the country.

The pledging price would be gradually increased from Bt2.60 to Bt2.75 from last November to February.

Source: The Nation