Thailand’s grain stockpile conundrum – in pictures

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  Farmers clear their rice field using motorised plough in Suphan Buri. Thailand offered about 208,000 metric tonnes of rice for sale as it attempts to unload huge stockpiles of the grain accumulated under a previous farm-subsidy programme. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

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  A worker uses a forklift to lift sacks of rice at a mill. Thailand is in battle to offload grain from around 18 million tonnes in national stocks after an audit noted that 70 per cent is deteriorating and another fifth is inedible. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

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  A worker drives a tractor to scoop rice grains at a mill in Suphan Buri. Thailand is in battle to offload grain from around 18 million tonnes in national stocks after an audit noted that 70 per cent is deteriorating and another fifth is inedible. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

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  A worker packs rice at a mill in Suphan Buri province. Thailand offered about 208,000 metric tonnes of rice for sale as it attempts to unload huge stockpiles of the grain accumulated under a previous farm-subsidy programme.

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  The military government in July launched the inspection of rice warehouses around the country to gauge the quality of grain stockpiled under a scheme run by a government it ousted in May that paid farmers way above market rates. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

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  Low prices and the end of the loss-making rice-buying scheme in February have hurt Thai farmers, many of whom were staunch supporters of the government the military overthrew. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

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  A new harvest is about to begin in November, adding difficulty for the Thai government, because the newer grain is expected to push down the price of older stockpiles. Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

Thailand offered about 208,000 metric tonnes of rice for sale Tuesday, October 28 it attempts to unload huge stockpiles of the grain accumulated under a previous farm-subsidy programme, 70 per cent of which have been found to be deteriorating.