Phumtham boasts two stocks of Yingluck-era rice fetched 272m baht
Sales disprove charges by critics of former Yingluck government that subsidy scheme damaged the country, commerce minister says
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on Sunday boasted that the last two stockpiles of rice bought under the subsidy scheme of the former Yingluck Shinawatra government fetched 272.619 million baht.
In a Facebook post, Phumtham said the successful sales of jasmine rice in the two last stocks from the rice-pledging scheme at the rate of 18.17 baht and 18 baht per kilogramme disproved allegations by critics of the Yingluck government that the scheme caused damage to the country.
The rice-pledging scheme was cited as one of several reasons for the coup staged in 2014. The interim government after the coup sold the rice from the pledging scheme’s stocks at the rate of 10 baht per kilogramme on the grounds that the rice had turned rotten.
But Phumtham said the latest sales of rice by the Public Warehouse Organisation showed that such allegations were “pure imagination”.
“Today, the truth has appeared after the PWO has announced the names of the two winners of the rice bidding,” Phumtham posted.
According to the post, Sahatan Co Ltd won the bid to buy 3,356 tonnes of rice at the Poolphol Trading warehouse at the rate of 18.71 baht per kilo and paid 62.8 million baht to the PWO.
Sup Saeng Thong Rice Ltd paid 209.819 million baht to the PWO to buy 11,656 tonnes of rice stored at the Kittichai warehouse at the rate of 18 baht per kilo.
Phutham said when he made a trip to inspect the rice at the two warehouses a few months ago, critics used a lot of imagination to attack him and the Yingluck government.
Now that the PWO has sold the rice to recoup money for the state, the truth has prevailed over imagination, he said.
