the government is calling a bid this month to dispose of all 344,554 tonnes of tapioca stock, which would save it 50 million baht a month in warehousing costs.
Keerati Rushchano, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Deparment and chairman of a panel handling tapioca sales, 117,809 tonnes are for consumption and 226,745 tonnes for industrial use.
The tapioca accumulated mostly from pledging schemes in 2008-09, 2001-12 and 2012-13 and is stored in 59 state warehouses in 16 provinces.
Interested buyers will be allowed to observe the stocks during sept 1-8, submit their qualification on Sept 9 and file bidding prices on Sept 13.
the terms of reference require a portion for industrial use, mainly to make fuel and fertiliser. They also set a floor price, as is typically done in rice auctions.
Fresh cassava root is now quoted at 1.20-1.30 baht kilogramme, down from 1.40 baht a kg in August.
Tapioca chips, meanwhile, now fetch 5.60-5.90 baht a kg, unchanged from a month earlier.
"All tapioca stocks to be put up for auction are tapioca chips which will not have any negative impact on the market," Mr Keerati said. "More importantly, the new output is yet to be supplied to the market.This offers a decent period for the auction."