Thai government issues bond as it struggles to pay rice farmers

[Mid]

Thai government issues bond as it struggles to pay rice farmers
Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat
(Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Urquhart)
Tue Nov 19, 2013

(Reuters) - The Thai government will issue a 75 billion baht ($2.38 billion) bond to help fund a rice subsidy scheme that has not paid out to farmers since October 1, a delay that risks alienating key supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The government has in recent weeks been facing the biggest protests since it swept to power in 2011 as its traditional foes from the urban elite step up their opposition.

But now it faces the prospect of a traditional bastion of support - farmers - joining the anti-government protests over the failure to pay them for their rice.

The government has been buying rice at 15,000 baht a tonne, well above market prices, but it has struggled to sell enough to keep the subsidy scheme afloat.

Thousands of farmers have complained that they have not been paid, according to the Rice Farmers Association.

"They are very angry and many of them have already joined a mass rally against the government in Bangkok," Prasit Boonchoey, head of the rice association, told Reuters.

The Commerce Ministry has said it will spend 270 billion baht to buy 16.5 million tonnes of rice in the year that started in October. But since then it has taken 2 million tonnes of rice, worth about 30 billion baht, without paying for it, according to the state-backed agricultural bank that funds the scheme.

Farmers have been among the biggest backers of the government, largely because of their support for Yingluck's brother, populist former premier Thaksin Shinawtra, who has been in self-exile since 2008 but is now eyeing a return.

The farmers' willingness to join the recent anti-Thaksin protests is a measure of their anger.

Some farmers said they would block traffic in their areas in protest to press for payment, an echo of action by rubber farmers in September. Others said they would march to Bangkok.

"My group will go to Bangkok to ask the Commerce Minister why we're not paid," said Vichien Phuanlamjiak, head of a farmers' group in Ayutthaya province, a major rice area north of Bangkok.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the late payments.

BOND ISSUE

The government will issue a three-year bond worth 75 billion baht to raise funds for the rice-buying scheme, a senior official at the Finance Ministry's Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) said on Tuesday.

"The bond will be offered for the public by November so that we can raise funds on time as farmers have started harvesting," said PDMO deputy director Suwit Rojanawanich.

Bangkok has spent 680 billion baht on rice since October 2011, but has only sold enough to get 156 billion baht to pay the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) for the loans that fund the scheme.

"We did not decline to pay the farmers, but we have some glitch with the legislative process that is beyond my authority. It needs to be approved by the cabinet," said Supat Eauchai, a BAAC vice-president.

The government set aside 82 billion baht from the 2013/14 fiscal budget to offset losses from its agricultural subsidy schemes, of which 50 billion baht could be used to meet outstanding payments, a finance ministry source said.

BAAC loans to pay for the subsidy scheme are guaranteed by the Finance Ministry, which is balking at backing more because the Commerce Ministry has not sold enough rice to repay the outstanding debt, the finance ministry source told Reuters.

"That was a limited budget given to the BAAC to offset losses and prevent the bank from having liquidity problems. It should not be used to prop up the scheme's shortcomings," said the Finance Ministry official, who asked not to be named.

Thailand has struggled to cut its massive rice stockpiles, estimated at 15 million tonnes. Earlier claims of rice sales to China and other countries were greeted with scepticism by traders because there was no evidence of shipments.

The International Monetary Fund last week called on Thailand to scrap the rice subsidies and scale back on other fiscal stimulus measures in order to balance the budget and contain rising public debt.

"They just told me the government has no money. I'm concerned I won't earn a living," said Kitti Boonraud, 38, who farms 6 hectares of paddy. He said he had not been paid for 20 tonnes of rice sold to the government since October.

in.reuters.com

[Yasojack]

15,000 per tonne thought it was 12,000 and the post is by a Thai.

[Rural Surin]

What a scam.

Evolved corruption that cycles around until they don't which end is up.

[longway]

The Ministry of Con-merce as so disably represenetd by Khun Kittirat and Nattawud demonstrate by their gutting and ransacking of the BAAC that robbing banks using masks and guns is so passe.

And the scam goes on.

[Thormaturge]

Gosh, I wonder where all the money is going.

[longway]

^ I hope this government stays in office long enough to explain how it gutted the BAAC and the destroyed rice industry by spending about a trillion baht.

[S Landreth]

update: UPDATE 2-Thailand issues bond as it struggles to pay rice farmers | Reuters

The bond issue would be the biggest this year by the BAAC, and may get a frosty reception.

ya think?

He said bond auctions by the bank were cancelled last month because of low market interest, even though they offered higher yields than issues from other state enterprises.

[Butterfly]

this is the making of a new 1997, bring it on !!!

[Mid]

Thai $2.9 billion rice bond may struggle, risk of further payment delays
Nov 25, 2013

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand may struggle to sell a 75 billion baht (S$2.9 billion) bond to fund its rice intervention scheme, fund managers said on Monday, risking further delays on payments to farmers.

The state Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) needs money from the bond, its biggest ever, to pay farmers for rice bought at above market prices in a subsidy scheme that has cost the government 680 billion baht so far.

Farmers, a key support group for the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, have threatened to join growing anti-government protests as they have not been paid for their rice since the scheme was renewed in October.

Underwriters began sounding out institutional investors on Friday and will set the price on Monday when book-building ends.

straitstimes.com

[S Landreth]

Rice Bond Flop Adds to Yingluck Protest Misfortune - Businessweek

The failure of a bond sale for subsidized rice purchases adds to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s challenges as she rounds up support to counter protesters occupying government offices.

The finance ministry sold 37 billion baht ($1.2 billion) of three-year notes on behalf of Bank for Agriculture & Agricultural Cooperatives on Nov. 25, short of its 75 billion baht goal. The yield of 3.53 percent was 39 basis points above that on similar-maturity sovereign debt, according to the Public Debt Management Office. That compared with a 30 basis point premium at the last offer on Oct. 31, Thai Bond Market Association figures show.

Rising borrowing costs are another blow for a program that has already eroded investor confidence and drawn criticism from the International Monetary Fund, which says the expenditure could jeopardize Thailand’s goal of balancing its budget by 2017. The Bank of Thailand unexpectedly cut interest rates this week amid slowing growth and a month long effort to oust Yingluck and dismantle the network of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

“This growing political tension might have made it more important for them to raise funds for the rice scheme,” Kobsidthi Silpachai, Bangkok-based head of capital markets research at Kasikornbank Pcl, the country’s fourth-biggest lender, said in a Nov. 26 interview. “In the event of an election, they need to make sure their supporters are satisfied.”

Farmer Support

Parties linked to Thaksin have won the past five elections on support from rice-growing areas in the north and north-east of Thailand that are poorer and more populous than the rest of the country.

The government spent 689 billion baht in the two years through September buying 44 million tons of rough rice from farmers at above-market rates, official data show. The program spurred the buildup of record reserves of the grain and dethroned the country as the world’s largest exporter. The IMF said in a report this month the purchases should be dropped in favor of budget transfers to low-income households.

“The rice-purchasing scheme is already putting a severe strain on Thailand’s public finances and augurs badly for the credibility and transparency of fiscal policy,” Nicholas Spiro, London-based managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy and a former consultant at Medley Global Advisors LLC, said in a Nov. 26 interview. “The government is treading on very thin ice right now and has lost credibility.”

Protests, Growth

Protesters started rallying last month to oppose a proposed amnesty bill that they said was aimed at allowing Thaksin to return to Thailand, and demonstrators broke into a compound housing the Ministry of Finance on Nov. 25. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban rejected an offer by Yingluck, who survived a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday, to hold talks. The biggest opposition party plans to step up support of the demonstrations, Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

Thailand’s economy grew by 2.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the least since the first three months of 2012, official data show. The central bank cut its 2013 expansion forecast this week to around 3 percent from 3.7 percent. Exports fell 0.7 percent year-on-year in October following a 7.1 percent decline in September, customs data show.

Global funds pulled a net $1.3 billion from Thai bonds and $1.5 billion from local stocks this month, according to official figures. That’s contributed to a 3 percent decline in the baht in November, with only Indonesia’s rupiah dropping more among emerging-market Asian currencies.

‘Dovish Tone’

The Bank of Thailand cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent on Nov. 27, a decision that wasn’t predicted by any of the 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The yield on the 3.125 percent government bonds due December 2015 fell 23 basis points since the rate reduction to a three-year low of 2.65 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“With the dovish tone and the bias going forward, it should provide quite a bit of support for the bond markets,” Santitarn Sathirathai, an economist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Singapore, said in an interview yesterday. “There’s more risks and uncertainties surrounding this program and that loss could be larger for longer,” he said, referring to the rice buying.

[Butterfly]

to be expected, they are truly fucked

[Mid]

Not only protesters, the farmers too
Veera Prateepchaikul
24/12/2013

The festive season is already here with the New Year just a week away and many office workers anxiously anticipating their year-end bonus. Even government officials are to get a bonus – thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the government and despite the fact that it is broke.

But not our farmers, especially those who have already "pledged" their crops with the millers under the government’s "Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts" rice buying scheme.

Many of them have yet to receive payments from the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives for rice "pledged" back in October – the beginning of the 2013-14 harvest season.

The truth is that the bank which is the main and only sponsor of the rice pledging scheme has run out of cash to pay the farmers. In short, it is broke.


The government's coffers are empty, and farmers are waiting for their promised payment for already pledged crops, says Veera.
(Bangkok Post file pic)

Those farmers who cannot wait for the bank to replenish its depleted cash flow have simply gone to the wealthy millers and pawned their bai prathuan, the receipt issued by the bank after having received the rice from farmers, and asked for cash in advance.

But millers are not philanthropists. They are businessmen – the blood-sucking sort. It was reliably reported that for every tonne of paddy, for which farmers could get up to 15,000 baht from the government under the scheme (depending on moisture content), the millers would advance only 8,000 baht, charging the needy farmers about 7,000 baht.

Of the four million or so farming households in this country, only 1.7 million subscribed to the rice pledging scheme, most of them in the Central Plains and classified as in the middle- or high-income group.

In other words, the majority of the farmers have not benefitted at all from the scheme because they do not produce enough rice, just enough to feed themselves with maybe a little left over to sell if they are lucky.

It is fortunate for the government that the farmers, particularly those who have not been paid by the BAAC, are a very patient lot and do not take to the streets readily to protest. At least not yet.

This does not mean their patience will last forever. Once their patience snaps the consequences will be dire for the government, given the fact the election is a little more than a month away.

The BAAC’s plight is understandable. It has to rely on fresh funds, borrowed funds, injected by the Finance Ministry, which is reluctant to borrow more as cost of the scheme for just two harvests, 2011-12 and 2012-13, has already exceeded the 500 billion baht ceiling by 180 billion baht.

The other source of revenue that the bank can reasonably expect is the Commerce Ministry which is, at best, discouraging news.

The ministry has been unable to sell rice fast enough to repay the bank. Thai rice, except the premium hom mali, is no longer the darling of buyers because of its high price and low quality – a result of the rice pledging scheme.

Eminent scholar Nipon Puapongsakorn, of the Thailand Research and Development Institute, said recently that unless the rice pledging scheme is scrapped, the quality of Thai rice will continue to fall and, in the end, Thailand will permanently lose its rice markets.

The Commerce Ministry has issued assurances that all the farmers will be paid before the end of December. That is just wishful thinking, if not just another lie. The ministry has lied before, so many times, and one more lie will not make even a dent in its tainted credibility.

The cabinet meeting on Wednesday is to consider the issue – where to get the needed cash, quickly enough to satisfy the seething farmers before they decide to take to the streets. Like the BAAC, the government itself is also broke.

There are not many options open to the caretaker government either, because its ability to make financially-related decisions is now severely restricted by the election law, because the country is now in election mode.

Getting new funding to pay the farmers can be interpreted as buying votes from the farmers, which is against the election law.

It is not only the anti-government protesters the caretaker government has to worry about, now there are the farmers too. It appears the noose is tightening around the Yingluck Shinawatra government’s neck – all by its own making.

bangkokpost.com

[S Landreth]

The Commerce Ministry has issued assurances that all the farmers will be paid before the end of December. That is just wishful thinking, if not just another lie. The ministry has lied before, so many times, and one more lie will not make even a dent in its tainted credibility.

Fuckin’ awful,.just awful to take advantage of these hard working people.

But what might even be worse,…….buying votes with money that is already due to these farmers.

Getting new funding to pay the farmers can be interpreted as buying votes from the farmers, which is against the election law.

[ralphlsasser]

The Commerce Ministry has issued assurances that all the farmers will be paid before the end of December. That is just wishful thinking, if not just another lie. The ministry has lied before, so many times, and one more lie will not make even a dent in its tainted credibility.

Fuckin’ awful,.just awful to take advantage of these hard working people.

But what might even be worse,…….buying votes with money that is already due to these farmers.

Getting new funding to pay the farmers can be interpreted as buying votes from the farmers, which is against the election law.

We all know it happens, but there is no legal proof for your statement.

[S Landreth]

The Commerce Ministry has issued assurances that all the farmers will be paid before the end of December. That is just wishful thinking, if not just another lie. The ministry has lied before, so many times, and one more lie will not make even a dent in its tainted credibility.

Fuckin’ awful,.just awful to take advantage of these hard working people.

But what might even be worse,…….buying votes with money that is already due to these farmers.

Getting new funding to pay the farmers can be interpreted as buying votes from the farmers, which is against the election law.

We all know it happens, but there is no legal proof for your statement.

Knowing it’s the way of PT politics, I didn’t think I would have to show you (or anyone) support for the fact that PT buys their way into office.

To summarize the article headline (underlined/circled in red): Farmers were told to vote for PT if they want payment for their rice.

More evidence in this link.

Thai Rice Farmers' Association president Prasith Boonchuey: 20 Million rice farmers prepared to protest the Government for the payment. This could lead to no vote/no election.

Holding any group hostage (their vote/s for food on the table) for what is rightfully theirs is unacceptable behavior, be it from any political party.

[Albert Shagnastier]

Just more evidence that confirms how corrupt and stupid the current government is.

I'm sure the next one will be..
Nah - fvck it.

[S Landreth]

BANGKOK, Jan 9 – The caretaker government will seek permission from the Election Commission (EC) to borrow Bt130 billion to buy rice from farmers under the subsidy scheme, according to the caretaker commerce minister.

Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisarn said the EC has allowed the ministry to continue the rice pledging plan, one of the Yingluck Shinawatra government’s major policies, but it will need to seek Bt130 billion loans to buy rice from farmers in the 2013/14 harvest season.

He said the Commerce Ministry will soon conduct an auction to sell 500,000 tonnes of rice on government-to-government basis in order to earn revenue to pay farmers.

The ministry has sold rice at a total value of Bt180 billion since 2011 while the new batch of 10 million tonnes of rice, which will be pledged with the government in the 2013/14 harvest season, will cost Bt150 billion.

The ministry has paid Bt30 billion to farmers and the remaining Bt77 billion will be given to them by January 25, he said.

Tanith Sriprateth, EC deputy secretary general, said the Commerce Ministry’s requested Bt130 billion in loans is a big issue which needs thorough study.

The EC must consider the law, particularly Section 181 of the Constitution, to ensure that the caretaker government’s spending will not become a burden to the next administration, he said. (MCOT online news)

Doesn’t January 25th come before February 2nd?

[Butterfly]

The caretaker government will seek permission from the Election Commission (EC) to borrow Bt130 billion to buy rice from farmers under the subsidy scheme, according to the caretaker commerce minister.

needs to buy those votes ASAP,

[Butterfly]

To summarize the article headline (underlined/circled in red): Farmers were told to vote for PT if they want payment for their rice.

but but all democracies do it, so it's normal for Thailand to do it too

[baldrick]

Bt130 billion

4 billion USD ? that is a fair sized hole

[Mid]

Thailand offers rice at a loss as it struggles to pay farmers
Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat and Naveen Thukral
(Additional reporting by Ho Binh Minh in HANOI and Erik dela Cruz in MANILA; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
($1 = 32.9 baht)

* Thailand desperate to raise money to pay farmers
* Offers 30 percent discount for rice against cost price
* Rice prices slip as farmers sell on open market

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Thailand's embattled government offered to sell rice at a huge loss, officials said, as it sought to shore up Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's support among farmers who are concerned that the administration could run out of money to pay them.

The government, battling a campaign to oust Yingluck that has pitted the royalist, Bangkok establishment against her mainly rural supporters, offered rice at around 30 percent below cost on the export market to continue funding a rice intervention scheme, a Thai and a Philippine official said.

The offers continued until Yingluck dissolved parliament last month to counter the campaign against her government.

Her caretaker government lacks the authority to take major decisions, including the export of state rice stocks, and has to rely on domestic sales to pay the mounting bills it owes rice farmers in Yingluck's provincial strongholds.

The government does not disclose at what prices it offloads rice in the domestic market, but traders estimate they will be substantially below anything offered on the international market.

"We need to adjust ourselves in order to sell rice at appropriate prices to get liquidity to run the rice-buying scheme," said Surasak Riangkrul, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, which oversees sales of the government's rice stocks.

He declined to disclose the exact price Thailand is offering but another official in the commodity trade department said Bangkok quoted $475 a tonne in a government-to-government deal with Manila last month to supply 500,000 tonnes.

This is almost a third below the estimated cost of 22,000 baht ($669) per tonne the government incurred on buying paddy from farmers, milling and storage. At the time, rice prices in the world market were around $400-$420 a tonne.

A spokesman of the National Food Authority (NFA) in the Philippines said Thailand reduced the offer price further to $462 per tonne as it tried to outbid Vietnam, which quoted $462.25, highlighting Bangkok's desperation.

"But it was too late because we had already decided to award the deal to Vietnam," said Rex Estoperez, NFA's spokesman.

The subsidy, which has cost the government billions of dollars, has fuelled the political crisis that is being played out on the streets of Bangkok.

Protesters are seeking to topple the government, which swept to power in 2011 with support from rural voters, many of them rice farmers who had welcomed the generous intervention scheme. City dwellers are angered that their taxes are paying for the subsidy.

However, hundreds of farmers, some unpaid since October, have also joined the demonstrations against Yingluck, disillusioned by the government's inability to reliably fund the controversial programme.

Farmers who have not been paid by the state for rice bought under the scheme threatened to block roads in 26 provinces last month.

Thailand is sitting on a massive rice stockpile, estimated between 15 and 17 million tonnes.

REPRIEVE

But in a reprieve for the government, Thailand's state-backed farm bank, which runs the rice scheme, raised 32.58 billion baht ($991.33 million) in a domestic debt issue that was far better subscribed than expected, officials said on Thursday. It had aimed to raise 20 billion baht.

Earlier this week, Thai rice prices slipped as fears of payment disruptions under the rice-buying scheme forced farmers to unload the grain in the market, despite higher prices offered by the government, traders said.

The money raised in the bond issue looks set to be used to pay farmers since rice sales are limited by the ban on exports.

"The caretaker government has no authority to seal any state binding agreements, including rice deals, so government-to-government rice sales will halt automatically," Surasak said.

Thailand sold 1 million tonnes of rice to China in November to be supplied over a period of one year but the shipments have been held up as the Election Commision says the caretaker government cannot enact long-term contracts that would commit any new government, an official of the commission said.

The rice-buying programme made Thai rice more expensive in the global market, and in 2012 the country lost its crown as the world's top exporter, with India taking over.

Anti-Yingluck protesters say the rice scheme is corrupt and has helped wealthy farmers and regional politicians more than the poor.

Protesters brought parts of Bangkok to a near-standstill this week but the government is sticking to a plan for a Feb 2 election as it believes support for the leader of the agitation is waning.

The protesters have rejected the proposal to hold elections and want an unelected "people's council" to take power.

Nevertheless, rival exporters Vietnam and India fear losing market share when Thailand resumes exports with reduced prices.

"Definitely there's a big chance that we will buy more from Thailand if they offer a better price," said Estoperez of the Philippines' NFA, one of the world's biggest buyers of rice. "Whether it is a government-to-government deal or a private transaction, the price and quality are always important for us."

trust.org

[Mid]

Thai govt seeks go-ahead to raise $4B to pay rice farmers
January 24, 2014

BANGKOK – The Thai government has sought a ruling from an administrative court on whether it can raise 130 billion baht ($4 billion) to pay rice farmers who have been waiting for months for money after selling their grain into a state intervention scheme.

Farmers are blocking provincial roads in protest and some have threatened to travel to Bangkok to join demonstrators who are trying to topple the government.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has dissolved parliament and called a snap election for Feb. 2. She now heads a caretaker administration that is not supposed to make decisions that bind the next government.

"On the rice funding, the Finance Ministry just submitted the plan to the Council of State today, which is expected to take time to consider it," Suwit Rojanawanich, an adviser to the ministry's Public Debt Management Office, told Reuters.

"We will have to wait for what the council says before proceeding on anything," he added.

The intervention scheme has run into funding problems because the government has been unable to sell the rice it bought from farmers. It promised them a price well above the market rate, which made the export price uncompetitive.

The government has said it would spend 270 billion baht on the intervention scheme in the crop year from October 2013.

The state farm bank that is managing the scheme, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, has just raised 32.58 billion baht in a bond issue this month. Suwit said the money had been transferred to the BAAC on Thursday.

In November, the bank only managed to raise half of the 75 billion baht bond it offered, so it reopened the bond this month to help get funds to meet late payments to rice farmers.

The rice scheme, which has cost the government billions of dollars, has fueled the political crisis that is being played out on the streets of Bangkok, with critics saying it is riddled with corruption and a drain on the state budget.

The cost of the scheme has led to a warning from rating agency Moody's and a rebuke from the International Monetary Fund about the fiscal impact.

gmanetwork.com

[Seekingasylum]

I rather think the Thai taxpayer will be paying for Thaksin's last election for a few more years yet, never mind the premium to be paid on the next.

All good stuff for we expats subsisting on our incomes sourced in real currencies.

Of course, when I move into my des res in Pattaya and contemplate my retirement years to be spent in increasing financial security, I shall raise my glass of champagne in a toast to the true hero of the hour - the monumental, cretinous stupidity of the chickenhead Isaan farmer who in voting for Thaksin made it all possible. His ignorance is our gain.

God love him.

As Butterfly says, bring it on.

[baldrick]

The intervention scheme has run into funding problems because the government has been unable to sell the rice it bought from farmers. It promised them a price well above the market rate, which made the export price uncompetitive.

takky the economic guru promised that his scheme would raise the riceprice worldwide - which it has in the poorest countries in the world

now his grand scheme has shagged the thai economy - another dunning-kruger example

As Butterfly says, bring it on.

I am sure the ladyboys will satisfy you as well

[Mid]

Thailand Government to Seek Bridge Financing from Local Banks to Pay Farmers
Jan 28, 2014

Thailand's Finance Ministry will seek bridge loans from local banks to pay the farmers who pledged their rice under the rice mortgage program, according to a local daily.

The Finance Ministry's Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) plans to make payments to the farmers within a month. The PDMO also plans to issue the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives' (BAAC) bonds, which are guaranteed by the Finance Ministry, as payment for financing.

Local sources say that the government wants to complete the borrowing process within one week. Recently, the State Council allowed the caretaker government to borrow 130 billion baht (around $4 billion), and the PDMO is reportedly waiting for an official letter from the Council. Banks are also waiting for a letter from the State Council before joining bidding for bridge loans as most banks are concerned about the risks involved.

The caretaker government, which is struggling to raise funds for the rice mortgage program, is planning to auction around 500,000 tons to 1 million tons of rice from government stockpile early next month.

The rice mortgage program 2013-14 began in October 2013 and so far farmers have pledged about 10 million tons of paddy rice with the government. However, the government has paid about 50 billion baht (around $1.5 billion) only for 3.5 million tons of paddy rice. The government has spent about 780 billion baht (around $23.6 billion) on the program in the last two years according to the caretaker Deputy Commerce Minister.

oryza.com