Rice problems.

[lomuamart]

I'm no economic expert, but this dosn't sound good for Thailand. If foreign income from rice declines significantly and tourism is down this year (despite TAT's statements), then the country could be in for a bit of a shock.
Thailand is the world's leading exporter of rice:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=126782
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

[deepee]

Ask any common Thai rice grower how much better off they are now with these heafty hikes in rice prices and they will tell you they are not getting any of it.
For those in LOS maybe time to start buying direct of some of those small co-ops around the place and get rid of the middle men.
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The two hardest things in life are success and failure.

[johnnyk]

My good friend's mama is a rice grower 150km north of BKK and she says the price paid to her is going up from about 7500 baht per rai of rice to about 9500/rai and harvest time is coming soon so she is happy.
Phillipines has a serious shortage of rice which could well be a factor in the increase.

[deepee]

johnnyk
My inlaws are contracted growers in Lop Buri and are up for 4% pay rise this season which they say does not cover their costs. The processors have told them that "fuel costs are so high and that this is a great deal for them".
I suspect that they are being slightly shafted here.
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The two hardest things in life are success and failure.

[johnnyk]

deepee,
interesting, i was speaking of lopburi also.
my understanding is that mama was getting about 7000 baht or so per rai of rice with costs about 5500 so net about 1500/rai, not much for lots of time and effort.
does that figure jibe with yours?
BTW, where in lopburi? mama is near Ban Mi.

[Nereus]

This in the Bangkok Post:


http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=126793

Rice shortages bite

Post Reporters
A sharp increase in rice prices has caused a shortage of the staple in some southern provinces because stockpiles have bypassed local millers and been bought up by big mill from the central provinces at higher prices.

Millers and middlemen from the central provinces are now going straight to rice farmers in the South and offering them higher prices for paddy than those offered by local millers.

Many rice mill owners have complained of experiencing this problem in Phatthalung, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces.

The offers of higher purchase prices, made directly to local farmers in their paddy fields, have been made for several weeks.

Financially, the local millers are not in a position to compete with them.

"They have bought all the paddy from farmers here. The price of a 50-kg pack of rice could reach 1,500 baht soon. A 50-kg pack is now being sold for over 900 baht, rising from between 700 and 800 baht a short time ago," said Manit Choochuai, owner of a medium-sized rice mill in Phatthalung.

Observers believe rice had suddenly become a precious commodity due to a shortage of rice in the global market.

Mr Manit said millers from Nakhon Pathom and Ratchaburi provinces recently arrived in droves in his province to buy all the supplies left for export.

This way, middlemen will enjoy a huge profit of about 5,000 baht per tonne, according to Mr Manit.

With a drastic reduction in world rice supplies this year due to a decline in rice exports from other leading rice exporting countries like Vietnam, India and China, demand from other countries has sharply pushed up rice prices in Thailand.

Over the past 12 months, the export price of Thai Hom Mali (Jasmine) rice has climbed to US$904 per tonne from $570, and the price of high-grade white rice has risen to $624 per tonne from $361.

Praiwan Choomai, an officer at the Phatthalung Agriculture Office, said the windfall is mostly being enjoyed by middlemen, not the farmers themselves.

Farmers in Phatthalung, for example, sold 70% of their paddy two months ago when paddy prices were only between 6,000 and 8,500 baht per tonne. At the moment, paddy prices are over 10,000 baht per tonne. The sky-rocketing prices have also given rise to paddy and rice thefts in Phichit province.

Pol Maj Gen Withoon Khlangploi, Phichit police chief, has launched an operation to prevent paddy thefts with the cooperation of community leaders and local administrative bodies.


Pol Col Charuai Pholprasert, deputy Phichit police chief, has warned police they would be punished if they fail to prevent rice thefts in their jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan said on Friday that if the present trend continued, the price of Thai Hom Mali rice could exceed 30,000 baht per tonne in the next few months, up from 15,000. The world is experiencing a food crisis. A few years ago, the price of Hom Mali averaged 6,000 and 7,000 baht per tonne, he said.
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Will be interesting to see what comment the head gangster has to say about this, taking into account his words about the rise in pork prices.
---"Why can`t they eat chicken?"

As always anywhere, the primary producer does not get any benefit from this type of situation.
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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

[deepee]

Johnnyk,
I'm talking Gong Tanu in Lop Buri which, according to the boss, is just down the road from Ban Mi.
And yes the returns for such effort seem pityful don't they.Their costs for the urea fertilizer are a big part of it too- supposed to have doubled in very recent times and this stuff is controlled by the same middle men also they say.
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The two hardest things in life are success and failure.

[crazy88]

Could be time to buy some shares in the mama noodles corp .

[chelsea]

Anyone know where I can get a thai version of the story that the OP posted. I have looked but cannot see anywhere on BKK Post where to change language.
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Always Borrow Money from a Pesimist. "They Never Expect it Back"

[Nereus]

Bangkok Post, Sat. 5-4-08:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/05Apr2008_news01.php

The export price of Thai premium-grade rice broke the US$1,000 per tonne level yesterday, causing fears to mount about a local rice crisis and prompting the government to call an urgent meeting today to try to manage exports.

The historic-high export price was for Thai Hom Mali jasmine rice while prices of lower quality rice rose by $70-100 a tonne in the past week, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

The price surge has caused alarm over a possible rice shortage in Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, as exporters are boosting exports and traders are hoarding rice for speculative purposes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan will hold a crucial meeting with private operators and officials today. On the agenda are the need to impose minimum export prices to control export volumes and measures to punish hoarders.

Moves by some large supermarkets to limit purchases of retail rice products and the sharp increase of retail rice prices have also got alarm bells ringing.


However, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday told the public not to panic. He does not think the country will run out of rice because of its enormous rice-growing capacity.


He attributed the surging rice prices to market demand and said the situation would be short-lived. He dismissed speculation over a local rice shortage and said the government had over two million tonnes of rice in stock.


Internal Trade Department director-general Yanyong Phuangrat warned yesterday that traders who hoarded or inappropriately raised prices of rice would be punished harshly with a 140,000 baht fine and/or seven years in jail.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, said Thailand has no plans to restrict rice exports.

''We don't want to abuse or to artificially influence the market,'' Mr Surapong said on the sidelines of a conference of Southeast Asian finance ministers in Vietnam.

''For the rice market in Thailand we try to follow [the rules of] supply and demand,'' he said.

There has been international market concern that Thailand would restrict rice exports along with Vietnam and India, the world's second and third-largest rice exporters, respectively. Vietnam and India have faced unfavourable crop supply, resulting in tight supply of rice on the global commodity markets.

Thai rice exporters are divided. One side wants the government to impose minimum export prices to control export volumes while the other opposes this.

Under the measure, the government would require exporters to sell rice at determined prices higher than the market price to slow exports. India has already imposed this measure.

Sompong Kitireanglarp, president of Ponglarp, one of the country's leading rice exporters, proposed that the Commerce Ministry impose the measure to cope with wild price fluctuations, which make it difficult to quote selling prices.

But Korbsook Iamsuri, secretary-general of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, disagreed with a minimum export price measure, saying it would do both harm and good. A high minimum export price would further inflate rice prices, she said.

The commerce minister has also ordered officials to keep checking government rice stocks to prevent rice theft.

According to permanent secretary for commerce Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, officials will check the warehouses of the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) and stocks of privately-owned rice mills that keep state rice.

The PWO has recorded overall state rice stocks at 2.1 million tonnes. The rice was acquired under the government's previous rice mortgage scheme to support rice prices.

The minister has a rice-checking committee headed by deputy permanent secretary for commerce Wararak Chansamart. The committee will start checking stocks next week with officials from the Internal Trade Department, the Foreign Trade Department and the PWO.

The committee will also ask provincial governors and officials to help check rice stocks in their provinces. It will take harsh action against any government officials who facilitate the theft of government rice.
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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

[ozuncle]

Chelsea,
I am not sure about this but on the left hand side of the page there is a list of coloured squares.
The top one (red and white) above job job, I THINK, changes the language.

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You only live once.

[chelsea]

Cheers Oz, will give it a try later.

_________________
Always Borrow Money from a Pesimist. "They Never Expect it Back"

[Ellinas2008]

From what I hear the rice crisis is a global phenomenon and not a Thai-specific one and the rice shortage is also due to the fact that many farms that were once used to produce rice are now used for bio-fuels. So, much for decreasing pollution using bio-fuels.

[Wanderlust]

I think there is a lot of rubbish being spread about the food price rises, with the biofuels one being close to the top of the list. There isn't a shortage of rice and other staples really, it is purely the financial markets pushing the prices up through their legalised gambling on futures, from everything i have read about it. This has led to wholesalers and others (governments) stockpiling until the price rises and they make a killing. It was probably all perpetrated by the Chinese so they can pay for the Olympics...

[STEVE G]

I was reading that global rice consumption has been outstripping production for several years now, so basically stockpiles have been falling. This is what initially started the price rise.
The problem has been massively increased by speculation and the withholding of supplies to drive the price higher.
Now some rice traders are keeping there warehouses full in the hope of further price rises, but this means they have little room for new stock which could actually lower the price in the field for the poor farmer.