THAILAND Bangkok wants to sell 10-year-old rice to Africa

The Thai government received criticism for the decision, and Trade Minister Phumtham Wechayachai decided to demonstrate to officials and journalists that rice is still edible. However, different specialists maintain that the cereal would lack nutrients in any case. About ten African countries import thousands of tons of rice from Thailand every year.

Bangkok (/Agencies) – Several African ambassadors expressed concern over the news that the Thai government has decided to auction 15,000 tons of rice harvested in 2013-14 that it has not sold. The news was also criticized by Thai citizens and numerous nutrition specialists, despite the fact that Bangkok has assured that the rice is edible.

Trade Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday announced the formation of a commission to oversee the sale. “The rice will be exported to Africa. We hope that the auction will reach a good price and the proceeds of the sale will go to the State coffers,” added the minister, who also explained that bidders will be able to verify the quality of the rice, in accordance with the criteria established by the Ministry of Trade.

Last week Thailand announced its intention to auction 150,000 bags of rice with which it hopes to earn between 200 and 400 million baht (5.4 to 10.8 million dollars). However, the rice has been stored in two warehouses in the northeastern province of Surin for about ten years after the failure of a purchasing program launched by former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. From 2011 to 2014 the government purchased rice from local farmers at an above-market price without setting any limits on the quantity purchased. When the program ended in May 2014, approximately 18.6 million tons of rice remained in storage, most of which was sold in 2018 during the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration.

After criticism, Minister Phumtham went with a group of officials and journalists to inspect the warehouses and in front of them consumed freshly cooked rice to demonstrate that it was edible. The government later added that a test carried out by a private laboratory on samples taken from the two warehouses in Surin did not register the presence of chemical residues.

However, some consider that rice, subjected to dozens of cycles of fumigation (a process by which parasites are eliminated with biocidal gases), poses risks to human health. For his part, James Marsh, a food safety expert, commented on the case and explained that 10-year-old rice probably contains very few (if not zero) nutrients. “The maximum useful life of rice – he added – should not exceed five years.”

Statista data shows that Thailand is the second largest rice exporter globally, shipping 8.2 million tonnes abroad. The top 10 African importers of rice from Thailand in 2023 were South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Mozambique and Ivory Coast, which together imported 2.48 million tonnes. They are followed by Zimbabwe with 55,691 tons, Algeria with 76,747 tons, Angola with 135,909 tons, Benin with 139,206 tons and Togo. Furthermore, from the latter two countries, rice is often smuggled into Nigeria, where policies limiting imports are in place to increase local production.