BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters): Thailand's government plans to sell around 17 million tonnes of rice over the next two years from stockpiles built up under the previous administration's failed buying programme, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday, announcing a new series of tenders.
Thailand was the world's top rice exporter for decades until its grain became uncompetitive under the buying scheme brought in by ousted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra after she won election in 2011.
The scheme paid farmers well above market rates for their crops and the Finance Ministry, in its most recent estimate, said it caused losses of more than $15 billion to the state, although that would be reduced if grain is sold.
"We have set up a plan to sell 17.8 million tonnes of rice within a two-year timeframe," Chutima Bunyapraphasara, permanent secretary at the ministry, told reporters.
The aim is to sell 10 million tonnes this year and 7 million in 2016, she added.
Terms of reference for a tender for 1 million tonnes would be announced on Jan. 20, she said, adding that the ministry would hold two or three tenders from January to March.
The authorities have held four, smaller tenders since the military seized power last May and have sold 681,740 tonnes for around 6.36 billion baht ($194 million), Chutima said.
Government-to-government deals have been done for larger amounts, of which 570,000 tonnes had so far been shipped or was about to be shipped this month, she added.
An audit conducted after the military seized power in May suggested that only 10 per cent of the grain in the stockpiles was of standard export quality. The buying scheme effectively lapsed in early 2014 when political turmoil meant Yingluck's government was unable to pay farmers for their grain.
Thailand's parliament began an impeachment hearing against Yingluck on Friday over her role in the subsidy programme. Critics denounced it as a wasteful handout to supporters of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, another former premier ousted by the military.
The country exported around 10.8 million tonnes of rice in 2014, a record high, according to the commerce ministry.
Its previous record of 10.4 million tonnes was reported in 2011, after which India took over as top exporter.
Thailand is experiencing drought in eight provinces, which will cut its 2015 off-season crop output by more than 30 per cent, according to the latest report from the Office of Agricultural Economics.
The smaller harvest is unlikely to have a big impact on global prices, which are still under pressure from Thailand's stockpiles and bumper output in rival exporters India and Vietnam.
