More Thai pledged rice to be auctioned through AFET

BANGKOK, March 13 (TNA) - Another auction of Thai rice under the official rice-pledging scheme is set to be organized through the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) within a few weeks Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan told journalists of the update on Thursday, saying that he wished it would not be blocked again. Niwatthamrong revealed that about 12-13 million tonnes of pledged rice remain in the government's stocks and it should be sold out by about one million tonnes a month from now on, insisting that the caretaker government would not sell the rice cheaply. Meanwhile, a group of farmers who have waited for months for money from the official rice-pledging scheme moved from their rally site in front of the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Finance to demand quick payment for their pledged rice. The protesting rice farmers also took a truckload of seven tonnes of paddy with them and demanded the ministry to buy it and another truckload they dumped there on Wednesday. (TNA)