Critics and exporters have questioned the viability of the new commerce minister's target of selling 4-5 million tonnes of rice over the next three months.
"If it is not done on a government-to-government basis, the sales target in three months announced by the new commerce minister is relatively tough," said Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
"Given the private sector's capacity, we are not capable of selling such a big amount, as we would have to sell not less than 1 million tonnes a month to achieve the target against the less than 500,000 tonnes a month we sell currently."
Ms Korbsook said the rice market is inactive but Vietnam's new output is about to churn out.
Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan, who took office yesterday, vowed to sell 4-5 million tonnes of rice from government stocks over the next three months while insisting the controversial rice pledging scheme will continue.
He was formerly PM's office minister and head of the now-defunct iTV channel owned by the Shinawatra family.
He replaced Boonsong Teriyapirom, who came under fire over the scheme that resulted in huge budget losses and saw the country lose its place as the world's top rice exporter.
Mr Niwatthamrong has also taken the post of deputy prime minister.
Nipon Poapongsakorn, former president and now a distinguished fellow at the Thailand Development Research Institute, urged the government to apply a transparent method in disposing of its rice stocks and to explain to the public the amount and price once the rice was sold.
A declaration to sell 4-5 million tonnes in three months should not be made because it will affect prices, he said.
The outspoken academic said the government should rely on several traders and exporters to help sell its rice stocks instead of the handful of exporters it uses currently.
"We have more than 100 rice exporters who could work well as a mechanism to help the government release its rice stocks. More importantly, state authorities are believed not to have enough experience to sell rice," Mr Nipon said.
Manat Kitprasert, president of the Thai Rice Mills Association, said closer cooperation with rice exporters is desperately needed to help the government dispose of its stocks.
"The target is achievable if the government seeks cooperation from rice exporters and dares to sells its stocks at a relatively low price," he said.
In a separate development, the Rice Exporters Association has assured the public of the quality of rice exports from Thailand to the United States.
Random inspection by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at US ports is standard practice.
The association yesterday said the FDA recently introduced measures including checks for objects in shipments of processed rice from mainland China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand.
Thailand has 46 operators exporting processed rice to the US but none has so far been subjected to additional checking.
On June 29, the FDA also launched additional measures to check for chemical contamination of shipments of processed food from around the world.
The US agency's measures are not only targeting shipments from Thailand, the association said.
The FDA recently rejected a small shipment of 5.76 tonnes of glutinous rice from a Thai company due to chemical contamination. However, the volume accounts for only 0.05% of the company's exports to the US of 10,500 tonnes.