Cancelled bidding hits Thai parboiled rice export

The government's recent cancellation of planned paddy-rice bidding has damaged export opportunities for parboiled rice, which is produced from unhusked rice.
Thai rice exporters expressed their disappointment at the cancellation.
A source at the Commerce Ministry said yesterday that the decision had been taken after it encountered a technical problem.
"Although there is export demand for paddy rice, the government cannot release it as our stocks have already passed quality-improvement processes such as drying, which means they can no longer be turned into parboiled rice," said the source.

Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai had previously announced plans to release about 600,000 tonnes of paddy rice via auction, as demand for this kind of rice was high following India's export ban.
India is one of the Kingdom's major export rivals for parboiled rice.
The source explained that producing parboiled rice requires paddy rice that has not been through any quality adjustment. In addition, it needs to be hard rather than soft paddy rice.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, yesterday said the government should release its paddy rice, for which demand is increasing.
He also said the government had to maintain its rice stockpile for longer, due to the current market demand for parboiled rice.
Moreover, the wide price gap between Thailand and Vietnam will result in export problems for the Kingdom, he added.
Thai rice is being quoted at US$548 (Bt18,700) a tonne, much higher than Vietnam's $400, he said.
Sombat Chalermwutinan, president of Asia Golden Rice - Thailand's second-largest rice exporter - said overseas demand for parboiled rice had reached between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes a month.
"Thailand now exports about 600,000 tonnes of rice a month, half of which is parboiled," he said.
He said that due to the second-crop harvest season having started, and with the expectation of about 2 million tonnes of rice entering the market, Thai exporters should not face any difficulty purchasing paddy rice from the market - despite the government's cancellation of the release of paddy from its stockpiles.