The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives has called on the Commerce Ministry to accelerate the release of rice from its stockpiles so that it can return at least Bt10 billion to the bank to continue the next pledging round.

However, the ministry's auction yesterday for 201,000 tonnes of rice from its stocks drew subdued interest.

BAAC executive vice president Supat Eauchai said the Finance Ministry had told the National Rice Policy Committee that the government needed to limit the annual loss from pledging to between Bt70 billion and Bt100 billion to maintain fiscal discipline.

"The government has spent a total of Bt660 billion for its rice pledging project since 2011, while it promised to cap the spending at Bt500 billion, so the Commerce Ministry owes the bank Bt160 billion," he said.

The Commerce Ministry has already returned Bt149 billion to the Finance Ministry.

The BAAC also plans to release 82,000 tonnes of its own rice worth Bt1.7 billion to continue the pledging project.

The Thai Rice Farmers Association urged the government to finalise the rice pledging price for the harvest season expected to begin in October.

Prasith Boonchue, president of the association, said the government had to announce the new pledging price soon so farmers could prepare for it.

The government has two choices - slash the pledging price or keep it at Bt15,000 a tonne, but allow farmers to participate in the project only once.

"The government should not hesitate any longer, as the delay in announcing the pledging price will confuse farmers," Prasith said.

"The government should not be overly concerned about its popularity because some farmers also understand the Kingdom's losses and the necessity to cut the pledging budget."

The Foreign Trade Department's sale yesterday of 100,361 tonnes of 5-per-cent white rice and 100,000 tonnes of provincial fragrant rice was able to attract only seven bidders.

Source: The Nation