Rice-clearing auction draws big crowd
Sixty-six rice traders participated in the government’s auction of 2.86 million tonnes of rice on February 16, showing high market demand for the last lot of rice suitable for consumption from the government’s stocks. Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Foreign Trade Department, said traders had shown strong interest in buying rice from the government’s stockpile after the end of harvest season this month. “The auction should be able to release a large amount of rice from the stockpiles, while the remaining rice suitable for feedmeal and non-food industries such as energy will be opened for bidding in March,” she said.
