Caretaker Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak ordered the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) to train 1,000 officials to inspect all warehouses nationwide.

The rice-pledging programme for the 2006-2007 harvest season will open on November 1.

The PWO's reputation was damaged earlier this year after its officials hired unqualified surveyors to inspect the rice.

Somkid said that the government would continue use surveyors for the pledging programme, though he insisted that the hiring process would be transparent.

He said the ministry would prevent corruption by creating a special task force composed of police officials to inspect warehouses nationwide.

In addition, Somkid said the government's pledging prices would be as high this season as they were in the last season. The pledging prices for the 2005-2006 harvest season were Bt7,500 per tonne for white rice and Bt10,000 for jasmine rice.

The ministry is also planning to open bidding for the leftover stock from the 2004-2005 harvest, of which there is about 500,000 tonnes of jasmine rice. The stock will soon undergo a combination inspection to ensure it has not been mixed with other rice varieties.

Somkid said the opening of the bidding would coincide with rising global rice prices, which would benefit the Kingdom.

According to the ministry, export prices for rice are 6-7.5 per cent higher this year than last. The price of jasmine rice is at US$520 (Bt19,500) per tonne, from $418 last year, while the price of white rice is $313 per tonne, up from $288 last year.

Somkid said he had also ordered the Foreign Trade Department to create a brand for jasmine rice this year for sale overseas. The goal is to increase the export value of Thai jasmine rice in the world market.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation