1.148 million tons of stockpiled rice sold 4th govt auction this year

[webfact]

1.148 million tons of stockpiled rice sold 4th govt auction this year

BANGKOK, 8 July 2015, (NNT) - Private companies bidded on 1.148 million tons of rice during the fourth rice auction of 2015, the highest amount sold in an auction since the current government took office.

This bidding round aimed at selling 1.3 million tons of rice. 55 private entities submitted bids for 1.148 million tons of rice, but only 33 offers satisfied the minimum bid. The amount of rice sold was worth at least 10 billion baht.

Department of Foreign Trade Director General Duangporn Rodphaya revealed that rice supplies in the market have reduced, due to the severe drought conditions in the country. The higher demand allowed the government to sell the most rice in a single auction.

Global prices have also increased by 500 baht, presenting a good opportunity for the government to sell its stockpile. Including this bidding round, the total number of rice sold is 3.8 million tons, valued at more than 40 billion baht.

There are 14 million tons of stockpiled rice remained in the government’s warehouse.


-- NNT 2015-07-08

[peterjackson]

So, the first 2.7 million tons sold for 30 billion baht. Approx. average of 11 billion baht per million tons.

This round, they sell 1.1 million tons for 10 billion baht. A decrease of approx. 20%, yet they say the price of rice has increased.

Someones calculator needs new batteries.

Disclaimer : I don't have a calc. to hand, that's why I say approx.

[NeverSure]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

[slapout]

they quote many figures as to what the quanity of rice sold was graded/ /was worth but neglect to mention what money was received for what was sold, or is this for future delivery and payment is acknowledged by iou, trade goods , visa concesions, or the pledge to open water supplies for thailands farming drought?

maybe this sale was for the several million ton of spoiled rice due to human error/corruption stored in substand warehourse who are bstill collecting storage, and treament to ensure quality product is put on world market.

[ramrod711]

I like the part in the link where it says they "couldn't think of a single economist that thought Thailand's rice plan would work". Thaksin and his clone sure showed them, approximately $15.3 billion in losses later. http://world.time.com/2013/07/12/how-thailands-botched-rice-scheme-blew-a-big-hole-in-its-economy/

[mmh8]

is the the rotten rice from corrupt rice scheme or a new batch of stockpiled rice? rice that was export grade and had no part in rice corruption scheme..... more information needed

[Strangebrew]

Works out to about 22 baht a kilo or there about.

[NextStationBangkok]

Corruption is bad, but producing food is a difficult task, everyone should be glad that last government encouraged people to produce more rice, and it worked. If you notice the rain fall is dropped this year, definitely price will shoot up by Dec in International markets. I hope the stored grains are distributed in right methods to reach the people or international market for the best price rather than rotten and thrown away just blaming the previous governments.

People are angry now, because they have less cash to spend in villages.

[ramrod711]

Corruption is bad, but producing food is a difficult task, everyone should be glad that last government encouraged people to produce more rice, and it worked. If you notice the rain fall is dropped this year, definitely price will shoot up by Dec in International markets. I hope the stored grains are distributed in right methods to reach the people or international market for the best price rather than rotten and thrown away just blaming the previous governments.

People are angry now, because they have less cash to spend in villages.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-11/drought-seen-hurting-thai-farm-output-as-el-nino-risk-climbs-2- The farmers were warned last year that there would not be sufficient rainfall to sustain a second rice crop. A lot of them decided to try anyway. Unfortunately the rains did not come, and a lot of farmers are losing money. I think blaming someone for no rain is substantially different from a government initiating a plan, an agreement, to pay substantially more than world price and reneging when the world price for rice didn't fall. I suppose some may say Act of God versus Act of Thaksin. Sorry the link didn't work, try again http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-11/drought-seen-hurting-thai-farm-output-as-el-nino-risk-climbs-2-

Edited July 8, 2015 by ramrod711

[halloween]

So, the first 2.7 million tons sold for 30 billion baht. Approx. average of 11 billion baht per million tons.

This round, they sell 1.1 million tons for 10 billion baht. A decrease of approx. 20%, yet they say the price of rice has increased.

Someones calculator needs new batteries.

Disclaimer : I don't have a calc. to hand, that's why I say approx.

As they say "Oils ain't oils, Sol!" Your calculation doesn't allow for different grades and types of rice, which is probably more information than non-experts require.

BTW what type of internet capable electronic device doesn't have a calculator function?

[Eric Loh]

I like the part in the link where it says they "couldn't think of a single economist that thought Thailand's rice plan would work". Thaksin and his clone sure showed them, approximately $15.3 billion in losses later. http://world.time.com/2013/07/12/how-thailands-botched-rice-scheme-blew-a-big-hole-in-its-economy/

You will notice that the article is in mid 2013 when there were bountiful harvest in India and Vietnam. Now that their fields are dry and no rain expected for a while in those countries as well as many rice growing countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia etc, demand will outstrip supply and India and Vietnam will not be exporting. Now the world need to thank the rice scheme for hoarding such large volume of rice and Thailand is reaping the extra profit from the increasing price.

[h90]

So, the first 2.7 million tons sold for 30 billion baht. Approx. average of 11 billion baht per million tons.

This round, they sell 1.1 million tons for 10 billion baht. A decrease of approx. 20%, yet they say the price of rice has increased.

Someones calculator needs new batteries.

Disclaimer : I don't have a calc. to hand, that's why I say approx.

maybe they sold a lower grade of rice?

[halloween]

I like the part in the link where it says they "couldn't think of a single economist that thought Thailand's rice plan would work". Thaksin and his clone sure showed them, approximately $15.3 billion in losses later. http://world.time.com/2013/07/12/how-thailands-botched-rice-scheme-blew-a-big-hole-in-its-economy/

You will notice that the article is in mid 2013 when there were bountiful harvest in India and Vietnam. Now that their fields are dry and no rain expected for a while in those countries as well as many rice growing countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia etc, demand will outstrip supply and India and Vietnam will not be exporting. Now the world need to thank the rice scheme for hoarding such large volume of rice and Thailand is reaping the extra profit from the increasing price.

Good grief! If the price goes enough to recover the huge losses nobody will be able to afford it, and we will be seeing mass starvation. Should we thank Yingluk for dumping a huge amount from the storage dams? After all, its the lack of water pushing the prices up.

[noahvail]

Ⓦⓗⓐⓣ？

[slapout]

I like the part in the link where it says they "couldn't think of a single economist that thought Thailand's rice plan would work". Thaksin and his clone sure showed them, approximately $15.3 billion in losses later. http://world.time.com/2013/07/12/how-thailands-botched-rice-scheme-blew-a-big-hole-in-its-economy/

You will notice that the article is in mid 2013 when there were bountiful harvest in India and Vietnam. Now that their fields are dry and no rain expected for a while in those countries as well as many rice growing countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia etc, demand will outstrip supply and India and Vietnam will not be exporting. Now the world need to thank the rice scheme for hoarding such large volume of rice and Thailand is reaping the extra profit from the increasing price.

the only gain seen in thailand is the rice in storage has spoiled/rotted/disappeared while rats have eaten and bred at their liesure as well as bids, weevils, etc If thailand would have shown restraint and responsible handling the present price increase may have produced benfit, but again the thai experts fumbled at the goal line as they were pounding their chest( blowing their own horn) instead of holding on to the ball

[Ulic]

Between the drought and these sales Thailand will soon get all the rice scheme rice sold and

we will have a full and proper accounting of how much money was lost.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[h90]

I like the part in the link where it says they "couldn't think of a single economist that thought Thailand's rice plan would work". Thaksin and his clone sure showed them, approximately $15.3 billion in losses later. http://world.time.com/2013/07/12/how-thailands-botched-rice-scheme-blew-a-big-hole-in-its-economy/

You will notice that the article is in mid 2013 when there were bountiful harvest in India and Vietnam. Now that their fields are dry and no rain expected for a while in those countries as well as many rice growing countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia etc, demand will outstrip supply and India and Vietnam will not be exporting. Now the world need to thank the rice scheme for hoarding such large volume of rice and Thailand is reaping the extra profit from the increasing price.

yes would be good if they wouldn't have stored it wet, getting fungus, fouling or eaten by rats. Or sold it black.....you'll remember the constructions under the rice, big like buildings decorated with some rice to let it look like the big warehouse is full with it.

Rotten rice gets a very low price.

Empty warehouse that has rice only in the books can't be sold at all.

Having a super dry cool storage of processed rice on standby may make sense, if it is managed in a way that it doesn't age and rot.

[Robby nz]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

There was more that 18 million tons bought :

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/tdri-says-yinglucks-rice-pledging-scheme-causes-almost-trillion-baht-loss

TDRI researcher Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn said in his research on corruption involving the implementation of the rice pledging scheme from 2011 to 2014 that the scheme was considered the highest market intervention scheme in history in which the government had spent up to 980 billion baht to buy up to 54.4 million tons of rice or 53% of total rice output from farmers.

That however was un-milled rice, loss in milling can be anywhere from 40 to 50%. Using the higher number that means around 27 million tons of milled rice. The previous administration made various claims as to how much they had sold but as there was no accounting done these claims cant be verified. There was also a fair amount that 'disappeared'. The 18 million tons was what was left in storage at the time of inspection.

It should be noted that none other than PM Yingluck on 24 April 2014 'Urged" the NACC to conduct an inspection to verify that no rice was missing from the total of 19.8 million tons that that had been found to be in storage after a Min of commerce inspection the previous month. Minister Yanyong asserted this by letter delivered to the NACC.

You are correct that the whole scheme was done on borrowed money which has to be paid back by the long-suffering tax payer. The bank was only acting as an agent and was (supposed to be ) paid a commission, or charged a fee for its services, whatever way you want to put it.

That what is still in good condition is in demand and being sold, with accountability, will only go a small way to cover some of the loss.

[peterjackson]

BTW what type of internet capable electronic device doesn't have a calculator function?

I was using a Samsung Tab 3 and although it does have a calc. in the apps. section, I have had issues switching between apps. and TVF previously, so I don't try to 'multi-task' anymore.

[Srikcir]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

The pledged rice under PM Yingluck was not purchased by the government through borrowing funds.

The idea was to pay the farmers only out of the proceeds from rice sales. The government expected that by stockpiling large amounts of rice it could drive up the price of the rice to pledge levels by limiting supply. When in 2013 the many rice farmers had yet to see any income because the rice wasn't being sold quickly enough and proces continued to collapse, they demanded immediate payment at the pledged price.

At that point the government was in "caretaker" status with the dissolution of the Parliament.

As caretaker PM Yingluck requested permission from the Election Commission as a caretaker government in accordance with the 2007 Constitution to issue treasury bonds to pay the farmers. The EC refused permission. She then went to the Government Savings Bank to borrow some of the funds and was refused.

After the military coup the Junta abolished the constitution and borrowed all the outstanding pledged funds by issuing 7-10 year treasury bonds. The Thai taxpayer is paying off that debt through government revenue collection and perhaps (due to lack of transparency) through subsequent Junta sale of pledged rice stockpiles. Farmers were paid the full pledged price by the Junta.

[phoenixdoglover]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

The pledged rice under PM Yingluck was not purchased by the government through borrowing funds.

The idea was to pay the farmers only out of the proceeds from rice sales. The government expected that by stockpiling large amounts of rice it could drive up the price of the rice to pledge levels by limiting supply. When in 2013 the many rice farmers had yet to see any income because the rice wasn't being sold quickly enough and proces continued to collapse, they demanded immediate payment at the pledged price.

At that point the government was in "caretaker" status with the dissolution of the Parliament.

As caretaker PM Yingluck requested permission from the Election Commission as a caretaker government in accordance with the 2007 Constitution to issue treasury bonds to pay the farmers. The EC refused permission. She then went to the Government Savings Bank to borrow some of the funds and was refused.

After the military coup the Junta abolished the constitution and borrowed all the outstanding pledged funds by issuing 7-10 year treasury bonds. The Thai taxpayer is paying off that debt through government revenue collection and perhaps (due to lack of transparency) through subsequent Junta sale of pledged rice stockpiles. Farmers were paid the full pledged price by the Junta.

Thanks for that summary. It makes a lot more sense than the more common "Yingluck and her corrupt minions stole 900 billion baht" story.

In hindsight, I think a few things are clear (aren't they always?)

1) The rice pledging scheme overall was probably a bad idea, implemented at a bad time.

2) The farmers who could hold on through all the turmoil probably made out OK. After all, the whole scheme was primarily for income redistribution to farmers.

3) Natural loses in rice stock and corruption were inevitable.

[halloween]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

The pledged rice under PM Yingluck was not purchased by the government through borrowing funds.

The idea was to pay the farmers only out of the proceeds from rice sales. The government expected that by stockpiling large amounts of rice it could drive up the price of the rice to pledge levels by limiting supply. When in 2013 the many rice farmers had yet to see any income because the rice wasn't being sold quickly enough and proces continued to collapse, they demanded immediate payment at the pledged price.

At that point the government was in "caretaker" status with the dissolution of the Parliament.

As caretaker PM Yingluck requested permission from the Election Commission as a caretaker government in accordance with the 2007 Constitution to issue treasury bonds to pay the farmers. The EC refused permission. She then went to the Government Savings Bank to borrow some of the funds and was refused.

After the military coup the Junta abolished the constitution and borrowed all the outstanding pledged funds by issuing 7-10 year treasury bonds. The Thai taxpayer is paying off that debt through government revenue collection and perhaps (due to lack of transparency) through subsequent Junta sale of pledged rice stockpiles. Farmers were paid the full pledged price by the Junta.

Thanks for that summary. It makes a lot more sense than the more common "Yingluck and her corrupt minions stole 900 billion baht" story.

In hindsight, I think a few things are clear (aren't they always?)

1) The rice pledging scheme overall was probably a bad idea, implemented at a bad time.

2) The farmers who could hold on through all the turmoil probably made out OK. After all, the whole scheme was primarily for income redistribution to farmers.

3) Natural loses in rice stock and corruption were inevitable.

You, like the previous poster got the right idea, but missed a few points. I hope my amendments help.

1) The rice pledging scheme was a vote buying scheme using the peoples 'money, overall was probably a bad idea, implemented at a bad time, and a financial disaster.

2) The farmers who could hold on through all the turmoil probably made out OK. After all, they were already wealthy. The whole scheme was primarily claimed to be for income redistribution to poor farmers who got little to SFA.

3) Natural loses in rice stock were inevitable given the huge amount being stored for much longer than normal and in poor conditions. And corruption was inevitable given that the scam had been tried before and was rife with it. When it was re-introduced, no effort was made to made to reduce it.

[halloween]

^^^ You're smarter than I am.

There was about 18 million tons purchased and stored for the rice scheme, all of which money was debt owed to the bank. I wonder how paying that off is going since the price paid was more.

The pledged rice under PM Yingluck was not purchased by the government through borrowing funds.

The idea was to pay the farmers only out of the proceeds from rice sales. The government expected that by stockpiling large amounts of rice it could drive up the price of the rice to pledge levels by limiting supply. When in 2013 the many rice farmers had yet to see any income because the rice wasn't being sold quickly enough and proces continued to collapse, they demanded immediate payment at the pledged price.

At that point the government was in "caretaker" status with the dissolution of the Parliament.

As caretaker PM Yingluck requested permission from the Election Commission as a caretaker government in accordance with the 2007 Constitution to issue treasury bonds to pay the farmers. The EC refused permission. She then went to the Government Savings Bank to borrow some of the funds and was refused.

After the military coup the Junta abolished the constitution and borrowed all the outstanding pledged funds by issuing 7-10 year treasury bonds. The Thai taxpayer is paying off that debt through government revenue collection and perhaps (due to lack of transparency) through subsequent Junta sale of pledged rice stockpiles. Farmers were paid the full pledged price by the Junta.

What a hodgepodge of lies and half truths, leaving out the inconvenient details.

Let's see - who was buying the rice. Oh yeah, the government bank BAAC with what was supposed to be a revolving line of credit, soon exhausted, because IT was supposed to be paid back from rice sales. "The government expected that by stockpiling large amounts of rice it could drive up the price of the rice to pledge levels by limiting supply." True, but why just skip 2 years where it didn't happen with debt the only thing rising faster than rice stockpiles? Inconvenient?

Yingluk as caretaker was not allowed to borrow. Banks, and their depositors, were not prepared to loan money illegally.

The junta paid the debts incurred by the previous government to the farmers, some of whom had been waiting a long time. Let's blame the junta, they're the ones that borrowed it.