Bt136 billion losses from rice subsidy in 2011/2012 crop

[hellodolly]

Well we should welcome the publication of something.... Even if there is speculation as to what is at cost and what is at market price etc. no doubt that will come out in the wash and the figure will be adjusted accordingly?

Just as important is the hidden costs of the scheme. I suspect these are not in the above figures. So I should imagine the Thai tax payer and any affected farmers (those allegedly not fully paid) will be asking the following questions:

How much rice, if any, was misappropriated or stolen?

How much rice has been written off as spoilt?

What is the cost of road haulage and other transportation or plant hire?

What is the cost or silo, warehouse, or shed storage?

What is the cost of security and policing?

Who were the main contractors for all of the above? Were these government contracts subject of a transparent bidding process. Are the same contracts still in place?

Will the NRC be appointing independent auditors to verify what they (the NRC) has just provisionally reported to the Thai people?

Why waste their time asking? Do you really believe they will get the truth? This is Thailand where truth and lies are really just blended together and part of culture and unfortunately the government.

Because I believe that the only way to change the current mindset of Thai politicians generally is to challenge them with awkward questions and hold them to account public ally. They bang the drum about democracy, now they need to step up to the plate. Silence by the electorate will change nothing...... And I abhor violent means; this post advocates peaceful demonstration, debate, and freedom of speech leading to a fully informed electorate and an accountable government. Even if we get a l

Small part of the above it is a start!

You forgot how much of the rice was bought at those inflated prices actually came from Cambodia.

[mikebell]

If one million has 6 zeros, how many has a billion? I am trying to explain to my wife the enormity of these figures. My calculator will not cope.

[notmyself]

If one million has 6 zeros, how many has a billion? I am trying to explain to my wife the enormity of these figures. My calculator will not cope.

In British English (but not in American English), the word "billion" previously referred to a million millions (1,000,000,000,000). However, this is no longer the case, and the word is used unambiguously to mean one thousand million (1,000,000,000).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000000000_(number)

Government says it lost 130,000,000,000 Baht on the 2011/2012 rice growing season. The amount of rice in storage seems to be in the region of 18,000,000,000 kilos.

The biggest grain silo complexes hold somewhere in the region of 250,000 tonnes so Thailand would need 72 of them to store their rice.

Edited June 19, 2013 by notmyself

[rubl]

Figure, figures, it figures.

Yesterdat we had 'final' figures from the Ministry of Finance given to us by the Minister of the PM's Office. He gave us THB 352 billion spent for 21.7m tonnes of rice. With 59 billion in 'sold volume' and 156 billion remaining in stock leaving 136.908 billion loss.

Today we have Ms. Yingluck assigning MoC Boonsong Teriyapirom to set up an impartial surveying panel to check rice stockpiles at all warehouses and urgently report back to the government. Probably to see how much rice is actually in a 156 billion mountain.

[OzMick]

Figure, figures, it figures.

Yesterdat we had 'final' figures from the Ministry of Finance given to us by the Minister of the PM's Office. He gave us THB 352 billion spent for 21.7m tonnes of rice. With 59 billion in 'sold volume' and 156 billion remaining in stock leaving 136.908 billion loss.

Today we have Ms. Yingluck assigning MoC Boonsong Teriyapirom to set up an impartial surveying panel to check rice stockpiles at all warehouses and urgently report back to the government. Probably to see how much rice is actually in a 156 billion mountain.

Then comes the much more complex task of assigning a value to it. As matured or vintage rice doesn't normally attract a premium, and nobody is clamouring for it at the same price as "new" rice, what value do you put on it? Certainly not what you paid for it.

Then it must be decided what tonnage of rice is 2 yo, 18 months old, etc. There may still be some of the stock accumulated pre-coup.

Somehow I expect that in the name of simplicity (and inaccuracy) only a bulk tonnage will be given, valued at the same price as rice recently harvested.

[Sayonarax]

Technically the money is not lost if it is in a politicians bank account

So technically it is therefore missing, until we find out which politicians account!

If I was Thai I would insist that the people I vote into office should be honest and transparent.

that barely happens in the west at the best of times..

[Sayonarax]

If one million has 6 zeros, how many has a billion? I am trying to explain to my wife the enormity of these figures. My calculator will not cope.

1000 million = 1 billion

[billd766]

How long people start getting paid in rice? I think the politicians should be first.

I agree 100% but the rice should be from the bottom centre of the pil that has been there the longest.

Also the politicians should have to get it out manually by themselves.