Thai Government to sell off tapioca stock

[webfact]

Government to sell off tapioca stock

  

BANGKOK, 5 August 2016 (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce has stepped up work to sell of the government’s stock of tapioca, which has ballooned to over 340,000 tons and is now costing the state more than 50 million baht to store monthly. 

The Commerce Ministry has briefed tapioca businesses and industrial operators on an upcoming auction for government tapioca stocks being organized by the Department of Foreign Trade (DFT). The entire 340,000 ton store is to go up for auction with one round to be for consumer businesses and the other to be for industrial purposes. 

DFT Deputy Director-General Keerati Rachano let on that the tapioca in state storage has become a burden on the government, costing it over 50 million baht a month to keep. The stocks are most likely to go to auction in November and December as sales in those months will not likely impact the market price of the crop. Tapioca is currently valued at 5.6-5.9 baht a kilogram. 

Interested bidders can inspect the stocks between now and September 8 with September 9 to be the first day of application for bidding. 

 

-- nnt 2016-09-05

[carstenp]

Why only about 50% of the marked price

 

Quote

Price of Tapioca Starch

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Date report

30 Aug 2016

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Domestic price

11.60 THB./KG.

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Export price
F.O.B Bangkok

350 USD./MT

http://www.thaitapiocastarch.org/en/

[shirtless]

Its another Thai fire sale i wonder how well Tapioca lasts in storage , it could be rotten by now. TIT

[xineohp]

The boom and bust mentality within Thai agricultural products is almost beyond belief.  Doesn't Thailand produce any agricultural economists? 

[williamgeorgeallen]

why did they buy them in the first place?

 

[Muhendis]

Err. Tapioca is sold in small 1kg packets on supermarket shelves. It is made from Cassava which is more likely to be the stock under discussion here and just for the record the price payed to farmers is in the region of

2.7 Baht/kg.

[Toknarok]

     Man Sam Palang, cassava, tapioca, manioc whatever you like to call it is grown extensively round where I am. The last price I saw being offered by the local merchants was 1,250 baht a ton. 12.5 baht a kilo. Last year at this time the price was double that.

    Like many things in Thailand there is overproduction. I've got several rai under cassava but I doubt that I'll continue to plant it in future. It's cheaper (for me) to allow the land to lie fallow and just grow a few veggies for family use.

[ChrisY1]

2 hours ago, xineohp said:

The boom and bust mentality within Thai agricultural products is almost beyond belief.  Doesn't Thailand produce any agricultural economists? 

 

Not economists....just warehouse owners!

Thb 50 million/month for storage.....completely insane...!!

[chickenslegs]

Can this be correct, or have I miscalculated?

 

340,000 tons (imperial)= 352,000,000 kg

@50,000,000 Baht per month storage

 

This equates to 7 Baht per kg per month to store a product which they hope to sell for 5.9 Baht/kg

[carstenp]

I do think for 600 mill (Year), they can build it.  think some manager /Owner i very happy for helping them out

Edited September 5, 2016 by carstenp
calculating

[edwinchester]

2 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Can this be correct, or have I miscalculated?

 

340,000 tons (imperial)= 352,000,000 kg

@50,000,000 Baht per month storage

 

This equates to 7 Baht per kg per month to store a product which they hope to sell for 5.9 Baht/kg

You miscalculated. 50 million bht to store 350 million kg's is 0.14bht per kg.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Toknarok said:

     Man Sam Palang, cassava, tapioca, manioc whatever you like to call it is grown extensively round where I am. The last price I saw being offered by the local merchants was 1,250 baht a ton. 12.5 baht a kilo. Last year at this time the price was double that.

    Like many things in Thailand there is overproduction. I've got several rai under cassava but I doubt that I'll continue to plant it in future. It's cheaper (for me) to allow the land to lie fallow and just grow a few veggies for family use.

 

I agree. My wife rents out a couple of bits of land to some cassava farmers and this year they seem to be leaving the crop in the ground as it isn't really worth the cost of harvesting it. If you have a very good strain of cassava you might get perhaps 5 tons per rai and if you have to pay people to harvest it you are wasting your time and money.

[billd766]

16 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

You miscalculated. 50 million bht to store 350 million kg's is 0.14bht per kg.

 

He is correct. If you take out the last 6 zeros from each you get 352 divided by 50 which is 7.04.

 

Try your calculations once again.

[chickenslegs]

20 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

You miscalculated. 50 million bht to store 350 million kg's is 0.14bht per kg.

 

You are quite right.

 

Still seems expensive though.

 

 

[edwinchester]

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

He is correct. If you take out the last 6 zeros from each you get 352 divided by 50 which is 7.04.

 

Try your calculations once again.

50 million divided by 350 million to find the price per kg is 0.14.

[Redline]

Nope, couldn't manipulate the market this time either

[LawrenceChee]

Time for OTOP to come up with a mega tapioca snack and every patriotic Thai would have to head to 7-11 and buy 2 packets daily as part of their duty

60 million Thais * 2 packets a day that should clear a lot or make the OTOP product in honor of His Majesty and distribute it for free at movie Theatres for the upcoming Father day celebrations


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[rickudon]

Guess half the posters here never passed maths. -

 

 'The last price I saw being offered by the local merchants was 1,250 baht a ton. 12.5 baht a kilo.'

 

Decimal place wrong and actually 1.25 baht a kilo

 

340,000 tons (imperial)= 352,000,000 kg

@50,000,000 Baht per month storage

This equates to 7 Baht per kg per month to store a product which they hope to sell for 5.9 Baht/kg

 

And when the last was corrected, someone still claimed the original was right!  (50,000,000 divided by 352,000,000 is right way round)

 

And people here often criticise Thai's math skills. I hope none of you work in finance .....

[Srikcir]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

now costing the state more than 50 million baht to store monthly. 

Add to that the cost for the government to provide BAAC with five billion baht in "soft loans" to 100,000 farmers to postpone their cassava cultivation, and  4.6 billion baht to 20,000 farmers who wish to install a drip irrigation system in their cassava plantations. 

If all these costs are not recovered by the State's sale, shouldn't the Minister of Commerce be personally charged to repay losses to the Thai taxpayers?