In mid-August 2015, Thailand is planning to auction an additional 660 000 tonnes of rice in an open tender as a measure to cut down its accumulated rice stocks. The planned auction would be the fifth stock release this year and the ninth since the new Government took over the country in May 2014. This measure follows the auction in early July 2015 when the Government of Thailand sold 1.148 million tonnes of rice and still held more than 14 million tonnes of rice in stocks. The government plans to release these stocks in 2015 and 2016.