Post-audit panel puts rice pledging loss at Bt330 bn, and rising

[webfact]

RICE PLEDGING LOSS
Post-audit panel puts pledging loss at Bt330 bn, and rising
The Nation


Rice Pledging loss

BANGKOK: -- The Post Audit Committee yesterday revealed that the government faced a combined loss of Bt330 billion during its past three rice-pledging projects, amounting to 58.8 per cent of the total spending of Bt600 billion on the programme during the period.

Moreover, the rice-pledging scheme could result in a loss of as much as Bt390 billion when including the current project launched this year, said the committee, which is chaired by Supa Piyajitti, deputy permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry.

"Increasing losses have resulted from more rice having entered the government's stockpiles, while the release of rice has proceeded slowly. Prices in the market have also decreased following low global demand, while operating costs have risen," said a source.

The audit committee has primarily found that four pledging projects during 2102 through to September this year could create a combined loss of Bt390 billion, with the Bt330-billion loss figure to May having increased by an average of Bt15 billion a month as more rice enters the stockpiles, said the source.

The report from the Finance Ministry said the permanent secretary would revise the auditing outcome.

The Yingluck Shinawatra government, meanwhile, still refuses to accept that the pledging programme is resulting in huge financial losses.

In a related matter, rice farmers have started to express concern over delayed payments by the government under the pledging scheme.

Prasith Boonchuey, president of the Thai Rice Farmers Association, yesterday said some farmers were worried as they had not yet received money from pledging despite having waited seven days.

He said some farmers had asked the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives about the delay, but they had not received a response.

Meanwhile, following a National Rice Policy Subcommittee meeting to consider the official overall average rice-yield figure, PM's Office Minister and Deputy Agriculture Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said rice farmers in many provinces found the official average to be considerably lower than their current yield, which prevented them from pledging their surplus output with the government.

The meeting therefore assigned the Rice Department, the Agricultural Extension Department and the Office of Agricultural Economics to compile updated data on the average rice yield, which would be used for the government's pledging scheme in 2014/2015, he said.

The average-yield computation method has been used for the past 10 years and may not accurately reflect the higher-yield rice strains and improved growing methods used today.

An example of the problem is that a rice farmer harvesting 800 kilograms of rice per rai (0.15 hectare) could only place 600kg for mortgage with the government, leaving a surplus of 200kg that has to be sold in the market, Varathep said.

Since the average yield figure for the 2013/2014 harvest season cannot be changed, the meeting came up with the idea of allowing a 21-per-cent addition to the original average yield figure for first-phase pledging scheme involving 11 million tonnes of rice.

A Bt3-billion budget - for 1.2 miillion-1.5 million tonnes of rice, or an average of Bt2,000 per tonne - would be needed to fund such a measure.

The idea will be proposed to the next National Rice Policy Committee, to be chaired by Deputy PM and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong on Friday, said Varathep.

The average rice yield per rai (15-per-cent moisture content) under the 2013/2014 rice-pledging scheme for jasmine rice within an Irrigation Department zone is 423kg per rai, and outside an Irrigation Department zone, 369kg per rai; the average for fragrant rice within a zone is 574kg per rai, and 463kg per rai outside a zone,; and 768kg per rai for Pathum Thani rice within a zone, and 627kg per rai outside.

The average yield for other rice types within an Irrigation Department zone is 632kg per rai, and 514kg per rai outside a zone. Glutinous (sticky) rice within a zone officially yields 501kg per rai, and 384kg per rai outside.

The average official rice yield per rai nationwide within an Irrigation Department zone is 595kg per rai, and 410kg per rai outside.

Varathep said the government expected to absorb 16.5 million tonnes for 2013/2014 rice pledging with a budget of Bt 270 billion, to be divided into 11 tonnes of rice for the first phase, down from the 14 million tonnes in the same period last year.

The volume to be pledged this year is expected to be lower than the targeted 27 million tonnes due to floods and drought, which damaged about 4 million rai of rice fields in 40 provinces.

To date, 2,002,885 of the 2,814,864 rice farmers who have registered to participate in the 2013/2014 pledging scheme have been approved, while 82 per cent have been processed, said the minister.


-- The Nation 2013-11-06

[Thai at Heart]

Well at least they are finally getting down to the nitty gritty about how to calculate the relative level of subsidy.

Only 3 years too late.

[bangkokheat]

its ok, once again the people will pay for the governments blunder, brace yourself for more rising costs

[waza]

Transparency the PTP method. I wonder if this scam is covered by the amnesty? After all it was a political populist policy.

What ever the final losses are it undisputable that this scam is the most corrupt scam ever instituted in Thailand and some people have made several fortune from it. If this scam doesn't warrant intense investigation and the laying of heavy charges then Thailand is the mother of all banana republics.

Edited November 5, 2013 by waza

[ramrod711]

Moreover, the rice-pledging scheme could result in a loss of as much as Bt390 billion when including the current project launched this year, said the committee, which is chaired by Supa Piyajitti, deputy permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry.

Who knew that buying votes could be so expensive? Oh well, it's all worth it to bring the beloved leader home.

[worgeordie]

No problem, the Government will just dissolve,reform under a new name,

and blame the previous Government for the losses,(even though all the

same people will be in place), Red shirts are easily fooled ,and Thai

people too ready to forgive and forget.and so the vicious cycle will go on.

regards Worgeordie

[soi41]

Miss Supa, are you at it again??

I am afraid you will never have your picture taken with Dear Leader!

[thaicbr]

Transparency the PTP method.   I wonder if this scam is covered by the amnesty?  After all it was a political populist policy.

What ever the final losses are it undisputable that this scam is the most corrupt scam ever instituted in Thailand and some people have made several fortune from it.  If this scam doesn't warrant intense investigation and the laying of heavy charges then Thailand is the mother of all banana republics.

According to reports. Yes it is. The NACC are complaining that over 20,000 corruption cases will be thrown out.

Sent from my phone with the app thingy.

[hansgruber]

Wow. Over 10 billion USD squandered.

[Local Drunk]

No problem, the Government will just dissolve,reform under a new name,

and blame the previous Government for the losses,(even though all the

same people will be in place), Red shirts are easily fooled ,and Thai

people too ready to forgive and forget.and so the vicious cycle will go on.

regards Worgeordie

Wait! Hasn't the govt just announced it's made a deal to sell a million ton's of rice a year to China? For what price we'll never know, but we can at least be assured with this deal that the current inventory of government purchased rice will be depleted in 14 years or so.

[ginjag]

No problem, the Government will just dissolve,reform under a new name,

and blame the previous Government for the losses,(even though all the

same people will be in place), Red shirts are easily fooled ,and Thai

people too ready to forgive and forget.and so the vicious cycle will go on.

regards Worgeordie

Wait! Hasn't the govt just announced it's made a deal to sell a million ton's of rice a year to China? For what price we'll never know, but we can at least be assured with this deal that the current inventory of government purchased rice will be depleted in 14 years or so.

New rice naturally, for CHINA....the eventual rulers of the Kingdom. Montenegro, Mongolia, Zimbabwe , will be used to trade the old stockpiles.

[Baerboxer]

Wow. Over 10 billion USD squandered.

Not squandered. I'm sure the untouchable ones who have made very large sums of money out of this scam will look after it very carefully. Probably already salted away in the Cayman Islands or Switzerland.

What a wheeze - include this scam with the bosses whitewash in the travesty bill and they're all home and dry. And, they can carry the scam on too.

LOS - certainly is if your one of the clan or connected elite.

[Baerboxer]

"The Yingluck Shinawatra government, meanwhile, still refuses to accept that the pledging programme is resulting in huge financial losses"

If PTP don't like the reality and facts, simply lie and refuse to accept them.

What a great way to run a country. Still, only tax payers money, plenty more where that came from.

Maybe increase the entrance fee for visitors to Amazing Thailand to 1000 baht. That'll help.

[mikebell]

Wow. Over 10 billion USD squandered.

At some stage, when every corrupt official has secured his retirement pot and the simmering resentment threatens to boil over, the 'Government' (term used loosely) will call a halt to the scam. But you can't stop rice growing and the price for new rice will drop like a stone. All those Issaan farmers whose lives are directly tied to selling rice will go under.

Urge your In-laws to diversify - (not that they'll listen to farangs.)

[Robby nz]

Wait! Hasn't the govt just announced it's made a deal to sell a million ton's of rice a year to China? For what price we'll never know, but we can at least be assured with this deal that the current inventory of government purchased rice will be depleted in 14 years or so.

Heres your answer to the price from todays news.

Todays market price if I remember correctly is less then half of what the Govt paid and the price is still dropping.

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the draft of the agreement to sell 1 million tons of rice to China each year, based on the price in the global market.

[rametindallas]

Transparency the PTP method. I wonder if this scam is covered by the amnesty? After all it was a political populist policy.

What ever the final losses are it undisputable that this scam is the most corrupt scam ever instituted in Thailand and some people have made several fortune from it. If this scam doesn't warrant intense investigation and the laying of heavy charges then Thailand is the mother of all banana republics.

And some more politicians will have to go live abroad just before the verdict is read. Of course, it softens the blow to be multi-millionaire.

[rubl]

Well, let me state again. With all rice farmers rich it's time to concentrate on other produce farmers. Maybe start with the 'rubber tree' farmers? They seem unhappy about having been left out of the billions till now

[bigbamboo]

Wow. Over 10 billion USD squandered.

The real sadness is when you think of how that vast amount of money could have been usefully spent for the benefit of the poor, disadvantaged Thais that PT claims to represent.

Shameful.

[Nickymaster]

No problem, the Government will just dissolve,reform under a new name,

and blame the previous Government for the losses,(even though all the

same people will be in place), Red shirts are easily fooled ,and Thai

people too ready to forgive and forget.and so the vicious cycle will go on.

regards Worgeordie

and Thai people too ready to forgive and forget

You might be surprised. Thai people might forgive eventually but not easy. They never forget.

[doctorproc156]

This is basically 3 large mass transit projects which could have help greatly, just thrown into the gutter. Shame.

[kotsak]

IMF Calls on Thailand to End Costly Rice Subsidies:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/imf-calls-thailand-end-costly-rice-subsidies-20860136

[GentlemanJim]

IMF Calls on Thailand to End Costly Rice Subsidies:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/imf-calls-thailand-end-costly-rice-subsidies-20860136

Excellent article...but........

Foreigners know nothing of Thailand or Thai people. They are not my Father

Edited November 13, 2013 by GentlemanJim

[Robby nz]

Another estimate which is probably closer to the truth is that the total cost of buying rice + operating costs is 29.605 B per Ton, this would mean that the Govt loses 15,169 per ton.

Adding the off season crop then the actual loss to Jan 31, 2013 would be 495.61 billion B

I also read that as the Govt has put a limit on how much the farmers can sell to the scheme the farmers now have to sell any surplus production that they can no longer sell to the Govt on the open market and are in some cases they are getting as little as 6,000 B per ton.

This means that the rice traders are now able to buy the rice they need directly from the farmers at a low price and therefore don't need to buy rice from the Govt.

[Robby nz]

IMF Calls on Thailand to End Costly Rice Subsidies:

http://abcnews.go.co...sidies-20860136

They have a number wrong however.

The Govt has now committed 740 billion B with 140 billion returned to the BAAC.

Said bank now wants to borrow 140 Billion as it has run out of money to pay farmers for the current crop.

[AleG]

Another estimate which is probably closer to the truth is that the total cost of buying rice + operating costs is 29.605 B per Ton, this would mean that the Govt loses 15,169 per ton.

Adding the off season crop then the actual loss to Jan 31, 2013 would be 495.61 billion B

I also read that as the Govt has put a limit on how much the farmers can sell to the scheme the farmers now have to sell any surplus production that they can no longer sell to the Govt on the open market and are in some cases they are getting as little as 6,000 B per ton.

This means that the rice traders are now able to buy the rice they need directly from the farmers at a low price and therefore don't need to buy rice from the Govt.

A couple days ago Kittirat was telling the anti-government protestors to stop because they could damage the economy. I say this Thaksin government has been damaging the economy much more than the protestors could ever do; just this ruinous scheme amounts to half a billion baht in losses EVERY SINGLE DAY since this band of crooks got into power.

I'd say that it is this government who should step down and stop the damage they are doing to the country, followed by criminal prosecutions ASAP.

[marcusd]

Transparency the PTP method.   I wonder if this scam is covered by the amnesty?  After all it was a political populist policy.

What ever the final losses are it undisputable that this scam is the most corrupt scam ever instituted in Thailand and some people have made several fortune from it.  If this scam doesn't warrant intense investigation and the laying of heavy charges then Thailand is the mother of all banana republics.

would you like one banana ir a whole plantation?

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

[marcusd]

Wow. Over 10 billion USD squandered.

that is only scam one!

Now what about the others?...and the ones we don't know about?

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

[marcusd]

 

IMF Calls on Thailand to End Costly Rice Subsidies:

 

http://abcnews.go.co...sidies-20860136

 

They have a number wrong however.

 

The Govt has now committed 740 billion B with 140 billion returned to the BAAC.

 

Said bank now wants to borrow 140 Billion as it has run out of money to pay farmers for the current crop.

a very bad economic omen....

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

[smedly]

Another estimate which is probably closer to the truth is that the total cost of buying rice + operating costs is 29.605 B per Ton, this would mean that the Govt loses 15,169 per ton.

Adding the off season crop then the actual loss to Jan 31, 2013 would be 495.61 billion B

I also read that as the Govt has put a limit on how much the farmers can sell to the scheme the farmers now have to sell any surplus production that they can no longer sell to the Govt on the open market and are in some cases they are getting as little as 6,000 B per ton.

This means that the rice traders are now able to buy the rice they need directly from the farmers at a low price and therefore don't need to buy rice from the Govt.

A couple days ago Kittirat was telling the anti-government protestors to stop because they could damage the economy. I say this Thaksin government has been damaging the economy much more than the protestors could ever do; just this ruinous scheme amounts to half a billion baht in losses EVERY SINGLE DAY since this band of crooks got into power.

I'd say that it is this government who should step down and stop the damage they are doing to the country, followed by criminal prosecutions ASAP.

it's too late the damage is done, if this government falls watch how many of them and their cohorts flee with a suitcase full of baht - any authority that takes over this mess will be working for years to expose the corruption that took place over the last 2.5 years - it will be astounding if they can ever unravel and reveal the truth - probably the greatest theft in Thailands history

[JRSoul]

For this one policy alone, this government deserves to be removed from office and placed in cells, with their assets seized to compensate the nation for its losses.