After a nearly two-month delay, since the auction of the 15,000 tonnes of pledging scheme rice, Thailand’s Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) has finally concluded a deal with two of the bidders, the Sup Saengthong Rice and Sahatan companies.
The PWO will notify the two rice trading companies today that they must to come in next Tuesday to sign the contracts and to remit the down payment, amounting to 5% of the contract price, within 15 days.
An informed Commerce Ministry source said the rice deal will generate about 244 million baht in revenue for the state.
Three other bidders were disqualified, including V8 Intertrading, which bid the highest price, SSMR Karnkaset and Thanasan Rice, because they did not meet the bid requirements.
The source said that Sup Saengthong Rice has agreed to increase its bid, from 15.617 baht/kg to 18 baht/kg, for 11,656 tonnes of the decade-old rice, stored at the Kittichai warehouse, while Sahatan Company’s bid is 18.6890 baht/kg for 3,356 tonnes of the old rice, stored at the Poonpon Trading warehouse.
Sup Saengthong Rice is reported to have a plan to turn the old rice into animal feed for export.
Although the rice deal is to be formally concluded with the contract signing next week, the source said that Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai is not satisfied with the performance of the PWO, due to the long delay and lapses in the checking of the qualifications of the bidders.
Phumtham, said the source, has hinted that the PWO will be overhauled to make it more professional.
