Northern provinces reel under severe floods
By The Nation
Published on August 14, 2010
Floods ravaged through many provinces in the country yesterday as a tropical storm hovered over the Andaman Sea.
In Chiang Mai, runoff water from mountains sent floodwater to the Chiang Mai Hang Dong road making it impassable to vehicles for several hours. Floodwater rose over 50 centimetres in the early morning.
As of press time, seriously inundated local roads also made it impossible for cars to reach Sri Ping Mueang and Pratu Korm communities.
In another northern province, Uttaradit, up to four tambons were declared disaster hit zones because of severe flooding. They were tambons Phai Lom, Mae Pool, Fai Luang and Si Phanommas.
Uttaradit Governor Yothin Samutkhiri handed out 500 sets of relief items to flood victims in these tambons.
More than 10,000 sacks were also handed out alongside sand for locals to form sandbags against floodwater.
"This is the 22nd time my house was flooded this year," Pan Innum lamented.
Uttaradit disaster prevention and mitigation chief Surachai Tatchakawin said heavy downpours still blanketed over most parts of the province.
"In the worst hit spots, floodwater is more than 1.5 metres deep," he said, "My wife and I are about to die of stress".
Phitsanulok disaster prevention and mitigation chief Boonying Khumsuphan, meanwhile, warned locals in Noen Maprang, Nakhon Thai, Chat Trakan, Wang Thong and Wat Bote districts to beware of possible landslides.
In Sakon Nakhon, floodwater damaged crops in so many paddy fields and farms.
"All 14 rai of my farm are now under water," Chu Nusa complained.
In Sukhothai, it was reported that flooding already ravaged 2,100 rai of farmland because the Yom River overflowed.
In a related development, thousands of Ranong residents complained that the rising seawater level during the past few days had damaged their homes and property.
Zaidol Yapha, a village head, said yesterday that locals were now frightened. Many people have evacuated to higher ground for fear that a storm surge might hit.
Northern provInces reel under severe floods
Pah Leurat
July 22, 2010
Temps are now mercifully down from previous highs. It was only 78º yesterday morning and we picked up some rain from typhoon Conson in the South China Sea. Not enough to make much difference, but every little bit helps when things are so terribly dry.
You can even see an upward blip in the red line on the graph below indicating the current water levels in Sirikit Dam, 15 miles upstream from here. With a surface area of 100 square miles and a capacity of over 8-million acre feet, Sirikit is Thailand's second largest reservoir.
So that little blip is better than nothing, but even so the lake remains below 30% capacity and we still have less than 30% of the inflow for July 2009 — which was already a dry year.
RED LINE: Water levels in 2010 (Buddhist year 2553)
GREEN LINE: Water levels in 2009 (Buddhist year 2552)
BLUE SHADING: Reserves available in 2010
MAUVE SHADING: Reserves available in 2009
Pah Leurat
July 23, 2010
We got a brief sprinkle last night and some more rain today, but Chanthu's track yesterday was considerably farther NE of us than Conson's was last week.
See below and/or:
Typhoon 201002 (CONSON) - Google Map
http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/summary/wnp/g/201002.html.en
Typhoon 201003 (CHANTHU) - Google Map
http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/summary/wnp/g/201003.html.en
During a normal June-October rainy season, the SW monsoon (from the Arabic mawsim meaning season) brings us moisture from the Indian Ocean. Here in Uttaradit we typically receive between 55 and 65 inches per year, and most of that in July through September.
This year the SW monsoon is very weak, or at least very late, so we especially welcome any overflows from typhoons in the South China Sea. While the typhoons are not normally our main source of water, in any given year they typically bring some additional rains, which are usually accompanied by a few cool, grey days, and occasionally by torrential downpours. Thunder and lightning frequently accompany the SW monsoons, but only rarely these low pressure systems from the South China Sea.
In 1995 a series of back to back typhoons caused Sirikit Dam to overflow for the first time since it was completed in 1967. That's a dramatic event for any dam and particularly for this one which, even at 373 feet high, is built entirely of earth and rock with no concrete other than the plumbing for the hydroelectric generators.
The dam survived that event unscathed, but the river surged nearly 10 meters above its normal highest levels. Cities downstream were severely flooded and several villages were completely washed away. Fortunately for us, Pah Leurat is on a river bank about a meter above the highest flood level — which probably explains why it has stood right here for at least the last 500 years.
* According to the agora site, in the South China Sea there are an average of 7.3 typhoons per year. Conson and Chanthu are numbers 2 and 3 for 2010.
Typhoon 201002 (Canson - An historical place [Viet Nam] พายุ โกนเซิน) July 12 - 18, 2010
Typhoon 201003 (Chanthu - A kind of flower [Cambodia] พายุ จันทู) July 19 - 23, 2010
53 provinces hit by drought
Published: 26/03/2010 at 01:24 PM
Online news: Local News
The Interior Ministry's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department on Friday announced that 53 provinces, 382 districts, 2,499 tambons and 1,9,704 villages throughout the country has been declared disaster areas hit by drought.
Of the 53 provinces, 16 are in the North, 15 in the Northeast, eight in the Central, seven in the East, and seven in the South.
The 16 drought-hit provinces in the North are Kamphaeng Phet, Chiang Rai, Tak, Nan, Phayao, Lampang, Lamphun, Phrae, Sukhothai, Uttaradit, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Phitsanulok and Phetchabun.
The 15 dought-hit provinces in the Northeast are Khon Kaen, Loei, Nong Bua Lamphu, Chaiyaphum, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Buri Ram, Mukdahan, Nong Khai, Roi-et, Yasothon, Surin, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, and Nakhon Ratchasima.
The eight Central provinces are Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Chai Nat, Lop Buri, and Nakhon Pathom.
The seven eastern provinces are Sa Kaew, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Prachin Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Trat and Rayong.
The seven southern provinces are Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ranong, Satun, Chumphon, Surat Thani, and Krabi.
A total of 6,482,602 people of 1,755,100 households have been affected. The drought has caused damaged to 147,482 rai of farmland.
The disaster prevention and mitigation offices in these provinces have distributed more than 78 million cubic million litres of water to drought-hit people, repaired 3,645 weirs, dredged 3,985 reservoirs, and installed 689 water pumps to alleviate the people's hardship.
53 provinces hit by drought
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/172810/53-provinces-hit-by-drought
... Meanwhile, in the northern province of Uttaradit, the Sirikit Dam is also facing the lowest water levels in 10 years, causing sandbars on which cars can pass through and people can take a walk.
Dam director Somkid Khaengraeng said its water levels are now in crisis, as there is only 1.46 billion cubic metres, while the Royal Irrigation Department requires the dam to daily release water at 24 million cubic metres in order to help drought victims in the area.
Mr Somkid also urged local residents to use the water prudently and to avoid growing off-season paddy fields, for crops will be damaged due to water shortage.
If rice farmers do not stop rice farming, he warned, the dam can only release water for another 75 days, for the rest of the water must be kept as backup supply in the reservoir. (TNA)
March 5, 2010
วันศุกร์ ที่ 05 มี.ค. 2553
http://www.mcot.net/content/28516
RED LINE: Water levels in 2010 (Buddhist year 2553)
GREEN LINE: Water levels in 2009 (Buddhist year 2552)
BLUE SHADING: Reserves available in 2010
MAUVE SHADING: Reserves available in 2009
March 5, 2010
วันศุกร์ ที่ 05 มี.ค. 2553
http://www.sirikitdam.egat.com/sk_plant/hydroweb/test00.php
Asia Sentinel
Rice Shortage: Crisis or Hype?
JET DAMAZO
29 May 2008
The world’s rice crisis seems to have come and gone
Whatever happened to the rice crisis? In April, reports of a global food crisis and exorbitant spikes in food prices hogged headlines after major-rice exporting countries announced export restrictions and importing countries — the Philippines in particular — scrambled to secure rice supplies from neighboring countries.
Just a month later, however, prices have begun to fall, the export ban has been lifted in Cambodia and both Vietnam and India, two other rice-exporting nations, have suggested they may lift restrictions as well amid a growing realization by governments that there is no immediate rice shortage after all. The price fell Wednesday to the lowest in more than two months and has fallen by nearly 30 percent. Mentions of rice shortage in the news now have the words “alleged” and “perceived” attached to them — but not before the global panic over rice supplies caused prices to shoot up to around $1,000 per metric ton in the global market.
The leader of the world’s largest rice importer, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is now being attacked by critics for actions that would otherwise have been praised if the shortage had been real—raising farm gate prices to encourage local farmers to produce more rice, jailing rice hoarders and promoting alternative staples like sweet potatoes to her rice-consuming constituents — saying these led to more hoarding and pushed prices higher. The Philippines, it turns out, has 54 days of rice stocks on hand, nearly double China’s.
“The price increase was induced by hype,” claims Rosario Bella Guzman, executive editor of local think tank IBON Foundation, after local rice prices increased by over 20 percent over the first quarter of the year—from P23.31 (US 53¢) per kilo of regular milled rice in January to P29.70 in April.
A memo from the country’s agriculture department to the office of the president in February, she says, said that the government needed to import 2.4 million metric tons of rice because of increasing global prices and tightening supply growth, even though the projected shortfall was only around 1.4 million metric tons. “The Philippines was panic buying at exorbitant rates,” she adds. “The excess would only end up in private warehouses.”
So was the rice shortage real or perceived? Adam Barclay, a spokesperson for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based in the Philippines, maintains that the real underlying cause of the rice price increase is the long-term imbalance between demand and supply, which has gradually pushed up prices since 2001.
“The long-term demand and supply imbalance implies that we have been consuming more than what we have been producing. This gap between demand and supply was met by depleting rice stocks which are now down to a 20-year low,” Barclay said. “This rise in price accelerated towards the end of 2007 as traditional exporting countries such as India and Vietnam imposed export restrictions.”
The problem was exacerbated by the disastrous results of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, which virtually destroyed the rice production capability of the Irrawaddy River Delta. Burma, which had contracted to sell 600,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, was suddenly turned into a net importer, needing about 500,000 tonnes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition, North Korea appears to be headed into serious famine and faces a shortfall of as much as a million tonnes of grains, not necessarily rice, although the country’s problems can be expected to cut into other world grain stocks, which are in increasingly short supply.
In addition, according to the just-released OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook for 2008 through 2017, “the overall trend of rising output masks an expected fall in (planted area) due to rivalry with other crops and nonagricultural sectors for land.” Rice is also expected to gain importance in African diets, where consumption per capita is expected to rise by about 10 percent annually over the next decade
But Barclay acknowledged that the combination of export restrictions from some countries and the need for imports from other countries, including speculations and panicked reactions following the ban in rice exports, did contribute to the sudden spike in rice price in March-April this year.
“Other factors include the rapid rise in price of oil (which has raised the cost of fertilizer, irrigation and transport) and pest and weather problems in several key rice-growing areas (for example pest problems in Vietnam, floods in Bangladesh, and drought in the Philippines and Australia),” Barclay added. “The convergence of these problems with several longer-term trends, such as population growth, economic growth and shifting diets in India and China, the increasing popularity of rice in Africa, and a leveling off of productivity growth prompted the rapid price rises.”
Food security expert Mohiuddin Alamgir, former director for policy and planning at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and currently a consultant with the Asian Development Bank, also agrees that the country’s actions, along with speculative commodities traders and opportunistic rice traders, contributed to the spike in prices.
"There is a structural gap in the country’s supply and demand of rice, which is why the Philippines is now the world’s largest importer of rice. The world knows this and so the country’s actions will always impact the market,” Alamgir explained, adding that the manner in which the government came into the market can be debated, as it may have sent the wrong signal. But, he says, had it not been for Arroyo’s actions, the country would have been in a worse situation, prices today would have been much higher, and lines at the government’s subsidized rice stores would have been longer.
“The country’s problem was that it did not plan properly,” he adds. “But people are hurting and they would have hurt more had it not been for the actions taken. Food security is as important as national security, and so governments have to make sure people have food.”
http://www.bangkokpost.com/250508_News/25May2008_news10.php
Rice farmers dig in over foreigners' land
Opposition mounts to Saudi venture
By Sunthorn Pongpao & Thai News Agency
The Thai Farmers Association called on concerned agencies yesterday to look into land occupation by foreign businessmen, which has made many of the country's rice farmers landless. ''Vast areas of farmland in the western and northeastern provinces have fallen into the hands of Taiwanese businessmen, while investors from the United States have also bought a number of plots in the fruit-growing province of Phetchabun,'' said association member Wichian Phuanglamchiak.
''Widespread land acquisitions by these foreign landlords has already made a good number of rice farmers landless, forcing them to rent the same land for rice growing from foreigners,'' he said.
His call came in the wake of an alleged plan to support Saudi Arabian businessmen keen on putting their money in rice farming and setting up a joint rice export venture.
The plan has drawn fierce protests from paddy farmers, who fear they will soon end up being landless farmers if foreigners are not stopped from buying more rice growing areas.
The association said yesterday it would write to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, asking him to scrap the plan.
The plan is reportedly the brainchild of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who took a group of Saudi businessmen on a tour of a rice production centre in the Buffalo Village of Chart Thai party secretary-general Prapat Pothasuthon in Suphan Buri on Wednesday.
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Somsak Prissananantakul, from the Chart Thai party, also opposes the plan, saying the idea was ''tantamount to selling the nation''.
But Mr Somsak yesterday denied the remark had anything to do with Mr Thaksin.
''I have to apologise to Mr Thaksin if he feels he's been dragged into the dispute for no apparent reason, which might cause him damage,'' said Mr Somsak in Chiang Mai, the hometown of Mr Thaksin.
Chart Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa said yesterday that Mr Somsak's harsh comment could have resulted from some misunderstandings.
Mr Banharn said Mr Thaksin phoned him before Wednesday's trip, saying he only wanted to show foreigners how rice farming is done in Thailand, and how the sector could be further developed with the help of modern agricultural technology.
Mr Prapat's interview had misled the public into believing that foreign investors were being encouraged by Mr Thaksin to buy up all the paddy fields, he said.
Mr Thaksin's spokesman Pongthep Thepkanjana defended Mr Thaksin yesterday by saying that the former prime minister only wanted to do things he thinks will benefit the nation.
--
At 08:14 PM -0700 05/25/08, Betsy R. Cramer wrote:
It's sad but it's an international issue: few people want to live on a farm in this internet globalized world. I think it is a universal belief that working with one's hands, farming, is inferior to getting an education and a well-paying job in the/a city. That old song, How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm After They've Seen Paree?, would apply to Thailand, except maybe it could be rewritten to say, How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm After They've Travelled Online and Seen the World Wide Web? It's the ever-present downside of education...... And to get that education and the perceived benefits costs $, and the only capital most have is their land.
At 08:16 AM -0700 05/26/08, Mac Bakewell wrote:
Yes, exactly, except that the families in our hardly atypical village who have either sold or mortgaged their land were influenced more by television, which they've had access to since the arrival of electricity in 1980, than by the Internet, which few adults in rural Thailand have ever seen. Whatever the influence, the families I know who have recently sold or mortgaged their land have reinvested the proceeds in diesel pickups rather than education.
A car is the ultimate status symbol in Thailand and, because of the way vehicles are taxed, diesel pickups are the most affordable option. Trouble is, land is so cheap and vehicles so expensive that the sale or mortgage of a typical family farm yields only enough for a down payment on a $20- $30-thousand Toyota, Nissan, or Isuzu. Thanks in part to a cultural disinclination toward maintenance, this purchase typically leaves the extended family in debt over a shiny new toy that will have depreciated to near zero long before the loan is paid off.
Still, urban migration does seem inevitable. The young people who, with or without education, have already moved to the cities send money home to sustain their parents who are raising the grandchildren in the village. (The long-term social ramifications of these abridged-extended families remain to be seen.) Very few of the young people who have moved away are doing well enough in the cities to enjoy being separated from the social fabric of the village, but many of those who can afford to do so have begun investing in better schooling for their own kids.
Thus rural brain-drain is already a reality, and I'm not sure where this is going to end up. Some farmers, like the outside investors, are astute enough to recognize that agriculture is a potentially profitable enterprise. If such farsighted folks can devise ways to inspire their communities to pool their resources, and to persuade their educated sons and daughters to stay on, then they might not have to watch their villages devolve into company towns.
That hasn't happened in many places in the USA, and it is unlikely that it will in Thailand. Rural poverty is a common factor in both countries, but in terms of cooperative communities some Thai villages come pretty close to the Amish model, which has proven remarkably competitive with corporate farming in the USA.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=127743
Taking the green plunge
Organic rice farmers enjoy double benefits
May 20, 2008
By Peter Janssen, dpa
Rice prices have more than doubled, so paddy in the field means money in the bank or debts paid off. Thai farmers growing organic rice have even more to smile about.
Although organic rice farming is still miniscule in Thailand, where most farmers remain attached to their chemical fertilisers and industrial pesticides, those who have taken the green plunge are reaping double rewards this year.
"If you use chemical fertiliser you have to buy from the market and now the price of fertiliser is very high because it is linked to oil prices," said Upin Khasana, an organic rice farmer in Sanam Chai Ket district of Chachoengsao province, 60 kilometres east of Bangkok.
Upin belongs to a 15-family co-op of farmers who decided to switch to organic rice growing seven years ago, with technical input from Green Net, a non-governmental organisation that promotes organic farming in Thailand and helps farmers sell their crops on the domestic market and abroad.
The Chachoengsao co-op uses only natural fertiliser - cow and goat droppings - and no chemical pesticides. In return, Green Net buys their rice at a premium price, usually a little above the market's, and handles the certification process under the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), selling under the Green Net brand name.
After 14 years in the business, Green Net is only producing about 2,000 tons a year of organic rice, supplied by cooperatives in Yasothon, Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Loei, Khon Khen and Chachoengsao provinces.
"We started out just selling locally, but now we export about 85 per cent," said Vitoon Panyakul, director of the Green Net.
Green Net's only competitor in the organic rice trade is the Capital Rice Company, one of Thailand's leading rice exporters.
Capital Rice started an organic rice farm project in Chiang Rai province in 1991, at the request of Italy's Riseria Monferrato S.p.A., a major rice distributor in Europe.
Last year, Capital Rice exported about 1,000 tons of organic rice under its Great Harvest brand, mainly to Europe.
"If you compare that to Capital Rice's total exports, it is very small, less than 1 per cent," said Wanlop Pichpongsa, deputy managing director of the company.
Thailand's total rice exports last year amounted to 9.55 million tons, earning the country 3.6 billion dollars. This year's rice exports are estimated to reach 8.75 million tons, earning as much as 4.7 billion dollars, winning farmers and exporters a bonanza from higher commodity prices, ramped up by high oil prices and artificial shortages caused by export bans in India and Vietnam.
If anything, the doubling of rice prices this year is probably bad news for organic rice traders such as Green Net and Capital Rice, since higher prices will encourage farmers to try to produce more paddy by using more chemical fertilisers.
"In a way it is okay, because we will see that those who remain with us are really committed to the organic cause," said Green Net's Vitoon. "So it's a way to shake things up a bit and see who is in it just for the money and who is committed."
Capital Rice has put its organic rice expansion plans on hold, also because of uncertainty about farmers' "commitment."
"The character of a community has to be suitable for organic farming," noted Wanlop. "Not every community is suitable. For instance, the rice growers in the central plains can grow rice two- three times a year by using chemicals and pesticides, so they are not interested."
But for the organic rice growers of Sanam Chai Khet in Chanchoengsao, staying committed to the organic cause is more about choosing a lifestyle.
"We do it for our lives more than for the money," said Nutchainat Keowuwee, a member of the Chachoengsao Green Net co-op. "My husband worked with chemical fertiliser for a long time and he became sick. His health was no good. That's one reason I switched to organic."
In Sanam Chai Khet, as in most rice growing villages in Thailand, the farmers keep most of their rice harvest for their own consumption through the year, selling only a portion of it to Green Net for sale on the domestic or export markets.
"The price we get for our rice is about the same as the market price, but what we get is better health," said Uenfah Chamkhet, another co-op member. "We are saving money on medical bills."
--
— The economics in the opening and closing paragraphs don't match up , but there are some interesting morsels in between. — Mac
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/business/2008/May/business_May339.xml§ion=business&col=
Saudis to start growing rice in Thailand by the end of 2008
(Reuters) 10 May 2008
DUBAI — Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, is likely to start investing in rice farms in Thailand by the end of 2008 in a move to boost security of food supply, industry sources and traders said yesterday.
"A number of private companies and Saudi officials already met last week with Thai investors to discuss possible partnerships," said a Gulf industry source. "Those interested will be looking at meeting domestic demand and then exporting to neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, mainly the UAE," he told Reuters.
India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter in 2007, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.
Last year Saudi Arabia imported 960,000 tonnes of rice, making it the world's sixth biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Around 70 per cent of the kingdom's rice imports were basmati rice, while Thai rice accounted for 10 per cent, traders said.
Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday approved plans to coordinate state and private sector activities, and to increase Saudi investments overseas in fisheries, livestock and food production.
"Saudi Arabia is trying to get companies investing together in rice farms in Thailand, and they are aware that companies here do not want to invest independently," one dealer said.
http://www.afet.or.th/v081/english/news/commodityShow.php?id=580
Saudi may start growing rice in Thailand by end '08
May 9, 2008
By Summer Said
DUBAI, May 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, is likely to start investing in rice farms in Thailand by the end of 2008 in a move to boost security of food supply, industry sources and traders said on Friday.
"A number of private companies and Saudi officials already met last week with Thai investors to discuss possible partnerships," said a Gulf industry source, who asked to remain anonymous.
"Those interested will be looking at meeting domestic demand and then exporting to neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, mainly the United Arab Emirates," he told Reuters.
India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter in 2007, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.
Last year Saudi Arabia imported 960,000 tonnes of rice, making it the world's sixth biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Around 70 percent of the kingdom's rice imports were basmati rice, while Thai rice accounted for 10 percent, traders said.
Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday approved plans to coordinate state and private sector activities, and to increase Saudi investments overseas in fisheries, livestock and food production, state-owned Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday, without identifying any countries.
"Saudi Arabia is trying to get companies investing together in rice farms in Thailand, and they are aware that companies here do not want to invest independently," one dealer said.
"We are expecting a decision to be taken before the end of 2008, and most likely this decision will be a yes," he said.
The rising price of staples like rice -- called a "silent tsunami" by the World Food Programme -- has sparked violent protests from Haiti to Somalia, and heightened fears that the world's poor may soon struggle to feed themselves.
Many countries have responded to the high prices by imposing taxes and other restrictions on exports -- allowed under World Trade Organisation rules -- to try to ensure adequate domestic supplies.
TASTE CHANGE
The population of the desert kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter, could more than double to 53 million within about 30 years from 25 million now, John Sfakianakis, chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc Saudi affiliate SABB bank said on Wednesday.
"Saudi Arabia is caught between a rock and a hard place. The government know they have to feed the increasing population, but on the other hand they cannot increase domestic agricultural output because of the country's scarce water supplies," a Saudi rice importer said.
"So sooner or later they will be forced to grow rice and other crops on foreign lands. Many here don't like Thai rice, but if the world is facing food scarcity, then a taste change is the last thing we should worry about."
Inflation is taking the shine off the rapid economic growth experienced by Gulf oil exporters, flush with windfall oil revenues, as food prices soar.
Last month, the government cut import tariffs on food and building materials, after inflation almost doubled in the six months to February.
Since December, Saudi Arabia has introduced cost of living allowances for public sector employees, boosted subsidies on rice, baby milk and other products, and introduced welfare payments.
Reporting by Summer Said, editing by Daniel Magnowski
Gulf newsroom, +971 4 366 4296, summer.said@reuters.com
Thai farmers urge commerce minister to explain why rice prices fall
BANGKOK, May 7 (TNA) - The Thai Farmers Association (TFA) has urged Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan to explain why local rice prices have declined sharply.
TFA president Prasit Boonchoei said farmers nationwide are now unhappy towards the way Mr. Mingkwan has handled rice market questions in the past, and now, they say, the more he talks, the more confused the farmers became.
Farmers would be more than happy if they could sell paddy rice at between Bt12,000-13,000 per tonne but prices have fallen since the government announced that it would release rice from its warehouses and sell to the retail public as packaged rice at a sales price about 20 per cent below the market price, Mr. Prasit said.
The market mechanism is now twisted, Mr. Prasit said, as rice exporters and millers have slowed buying paddy from farmers, causing prices to fall, he said.
"When rice prices rose the government released announcements regularly but when prices fell not a single government agency issued any statement," Mr. Prasit said. "The Commerce Ministry shouldn't speak on rice prices or its directions because farmers would eventually suffer."
Mr. Prasit suggested that the government should indicate clearly at what price it would buy rice from farmers to keep its stockpile at the same level of 2.1 million tonnes after it has decided to withdraw rice and sell it to the public in packaged rice form.
He said farmers were still not confident that the government would buy rice from them at the average price of Bt13,000 per tonne.
The government should also find ways to assist farmers who planned to organise a rally after millers have offered to buy paddy from them at prices which are too low, he added. (TNA)-E111
MCOT News : Thai farmers urge commerce minister to explain why rice prices fall
http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=4152
Rice prices said to be easing as purchasing slows down
By Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation
Published on May 7, 2008
The price of 100-per-cent white paddy rice appears to have eased after hitting a record high of between Bt13,000 and Bt14,500 per tonne, traders reported.
Due to tight storage capacity and other factors, the prices started to fall by Bt1,500 to Bt2,000 last week as rice millers and exporters delayed their purchases.
However, traders dismissed the likelihood of further big falls as world demand remained strong and supply from other rice-exporting countries was restricted.
As a result of the weaker domestic price, the export price had also eased, down by between US$60 (Bt1,900) and $80 per tonne last week.
According to the Rice Exporters Association, the export price of 100-per-cent white rice was now $854 per tonne, down from $894.
Pramoth Vanichanont of the Thai Rice Millers Association said yesterday millers had delayed their purchases because of overwhelming stocks.
He believed the price would not fall below Bt10,000 a tonne, adding Cyclone Nargis had damaged Burma's rice crop so there would be higher demand on the world market.
Burma earlier expected to ship 500,000 tonnes of rice this year, up from the annual 300,000 tonnes.
Prasit Boonchuey, president of the Thai Rice Farmers Association, said farmers were satisfied with the current price, despite the drop from between Bt14,500 and Bt15,000 to between Bt11,000 and Bt13,000 a tonne for paddy white rice.
However, farmers would suffer if the price falls below Bt10,000 a tonne. He pointed out the cost of rice production for farmers had surged significantly this year from Bt5,690 to Bt7,000 a tonne because of the rising costs of fertiliser and pesticides.
To ensure lower prices would not hurt farmers, the association had called on the government to set up a price-guarantee programme to ensure the figure would not fall below Bt10,000 a tonne for paddy rice.
Bangkok's Independent Newspaper
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/05/07/national/national_30072426.php
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F8259015-8BAC-42F0-ADF5-F3F4A5A9526C.htm
WEDNESDAY, MAY 07, 2008
10:37 MECCA TIME, 7:37 GMT
Cyclone smashes Myanmar 'rice bowl'
The destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis also threatens to have devastated Myanmar's agricultural heartland, posing concerns over long-term food shortages across an already desperately poor country.
The Irrawaddy delta region, which bore the brunt of the storm, has long been known as the rice-bowl of Myanmar.
But the features that made it so fertile – its low lying geography and its proximity to water - also made it vulnerable to disaster.
In the wake of the storm UN relief officials have reported distribution networks in the region in tatters and large tracts of rice-growing land still under water. Rice plants generally die if they remain submerged for about four days.
"The cyclone certainly complicates matters," said Paul Risley, a spokesman with the UN's World Food Programme in Bangkok.
"It blew through the critical rice-growing areas of the country and it seems the harvest was only partially completed. This could represent a substantial loss to the country's rice output," he said.
According estimated by the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization the five states hit hardest by the cyclone on Saturday produce 65 per cent of the country's rice.
The region also is home to 80 per cent of its aquaculture, 50 per cent of its poultry and 40 per cent of its pig production, the FAO said.
With as many as a million people directly affected by the catastrophe, rice shortages and possible accompanying public resentment present a major challenge to the country's military government.
With food shortages and rising prices already triggering riots in poor countries, the cyclone's disruption of the harvest in one of Asia's richest rice-growing areas could also have global implications.
Until last weekend, Myanmar had been expected to export a portion of its rice harvest.
Shortfalls could hit Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other regional neighbours that had been counting on importing Myanmar's rice.
Traders suggest that in the cyclone's wake, world rice prices, already soaring, could be sent higher.
Globally the cost of rice has already nearly tripled since the beginning of the year, busting the budgets of humanitarian agencies that provide emergency food aid to disaster-struck countries.
In depth: Cyclone Nagris
Eyewitness: 'Utter devastation'
Relief work hampered by red tape
Cyclone threatens military's grip
Map: The deadly path of Cyclone Nargis
Satellite photos: Before and after the cyclone
Timeline: Asia's deadliest storms
Video: Toll soars
Thailand drops plan for rice cartel that would have fixed prices
By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
(05-06) 06:26 PDT BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) --
Thailand is dropping plans to create a Southeast Asian rice cartel that would have fixed the price of the skyrocketing commodity over food security concerns, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday.
The proposal to create an OPEC-like cartel was first floated last week by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to give rice producers greater control over rice prices, which have tripled since December. But the idea was heavily criticized by senators in the Philippines, a major importer, as well as some Thai rice exporters.
"We are not talking about setting up a rice cartel," Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said after a meeting with ambassadors from six rice exporting countries in Asia. "If Thailand sets up a rice cartel and fixes a price, that will make matters worse and worsen food security."
Instead, Noppadon said Thailand proposed holding a meeting on rice in the next month or two that would work with top Asian exporters including India, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Pakistan to improve productivity. He also said exporting countries would discuss sharing of technology, market information and price information.
Noppadon denied that the about face on the cartel had anything to do with concerns about the impact on the Philippines.
"We are sympathetic to all human beings, not just the Filipinos," he said.
Rice prices have tripled this year, with the regional benchmark hitting $1,000 a metric ton for 100 percent Grade B white rice.
The run-up in rice prices has come amid global food inflation, poor weather in some rice-producing nations and demand that has outstripped supply. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, have contributed to the problem by curbing rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.
Supporters say that a rice cartel — tentatively named Organization of Rice Exporting Countries — would ensure farmers benefit from the increasing demand for the staple.
Despite Thailand's reluctance, Cambodia's Information Minister Khieu Kanharith insisted that an association of rice exporting countries could still be useful for avoiding a "price war, which could affect livelihoods of peoples" in the region and beyond.
He said his government will pursue discussion about forming such an association at a meeting of the leaders of five Southeast Asian countries in Vietnam later this year. The five countries — Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar — have formed a sub-regional cooperation forum known as Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, ACMECS.
Their next meeting is planned to be held in Vietnam in October, Khieu Kanharith said.
But Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Philippine Senate's Committee on Agriculture, has expressed concerns that a small group of producers could control the staple food and price it out of reach for "millions and millions of people."
"It is a bad idea," he said Friday. "It will create an oligopoly and it's against humanity."
Meanwhile, China said it has enough grain to keep food prices steady, amid reports authorities were struggling to prevent the smuggling of rice to overseas markets.
China views basic self-sufficiency in staple grains for its 1.3 billion people to be a national strategic priority, and with grain prices soaring internationally it is moving to ensure domestic supplies and curb exports, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its Web site.
The comments, published in the form of a question-and-answer session with an unnamed official, emphasized Beijing's ability to keep grain prices stable after four straight years of bumper harvests.
"Our grain supply and demand is basically steady, our reserves are full and we can guarantee the supply and stability of grain prices," the statement said.
It said reserves alone could meet demand for six months. The government is shifting grain from the north to heavily populated southern areas where consumption outstrips production.
Thailand drops plan for rice cartel that would have fixed prices
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/06/international/i021303D65.DTL&feed=rss.business
The Edge Daily
April 16, 2008
BANGKOK: Surging global demand caused Thailand to export 66% more rice in the first quarter of 2008 from the same period last year, Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan said on Wednesday.
However, he said the world's number-one rice exporter, whose market share is set to rise due to recent export restrictions imposed by Vietnam and India, would not be raising its overall target for the year of nearly 9 million tonnes.
Mingkwan also reaffirmed that there was no need to release rice from a 2.1 million tonne government stockpile, as another 4.2 million tonnes of milled rice from the country's second annual crop was expected to hit the market this month.
"I'm sure that we will have ample supply for domestic consumption and exports so we don't need to release the stock," he told a news conference.
Between January to March 2008, Thailand exported 3.26 million tonnes, up from 1.96 million tonnes a year earlier, following India and Vietnam's decisions to restrict exports to protect domestic supply.
"That makes us feel confident that we could export up to 9 million, as we aimed earlier," he said.
Thailand exported 9.4 million tonnes of rice in 2007 and expects to sell up to 8.75 million to 9.0 million tonnes in 2008.
With the moves by Vietnam and India, Thailand expects to expand its share of the global rice market to 40% in 2008, from 31% in 2007, Mingkwan said.
Mingkwan said Thailand was looking to work with other rice exporting countries to ensure more price stability, starting with a visit by his Indian counterpart on April 27.
However, traders were sceptical about the success of any talks, given that the "cooperation" has been bandied about as a theme since 2001 without bringing any concrete results.
"In every county, rice is a political commodity that gets leaders into trouble if they make any mistakes. No one wants to take any action that could harm their farmers," said a trader who asked not to be named.
--
International Herald Tribune
April 4, 2008
Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, has no plans to restrict exports of the grain, the country's finance minister said Friday.
"We don't want to abuse or to artificially influence the market," Surapong Suebwonglee 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."
There has been speculation in rice markets that Thailand — like neighbors Cambodia and Vietnam — would act to boost its domestic supply of rice. Rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. Experts blame rising fuel and fertilizer expenses as well as crops curtailed by disease, pests and climate change.
There are concerns prices could rise a further 40 percent in coming months. Vietnam said at the end of March that it will cut rice exports by 1 million tons this year as part of the government's efforts to rein in soaring inflation and ensure food security. Cambodia ordered a ban on exports to curb rising prices in its domestic market.
Surapong's comments echo a recent statement by the Thai Commerce Minister that Thailand won't ban rice exports.
--
The Nation
April 19, 2008
"Now, hom mali is the world's most expensive rice. We just sold it at a new record of over US$1,300 per tonne to customers in Hong Kong for May delivery. Singapore, Malaysia and China are also our major customers.
"Looking back some 45 years, a tonne of hom mali rice was just over US$100. Today, we've seen record prices of not only rice, but also crude oil [$120 per barrel], gold [$1,000 per ounce] and other commodities," said Chookiat.
"We're now in the fourth straight month of price upsurge, meaning that prices for all kinds of rice have more than doubled - from $360 to $860 per tonne for white rice and from $620 to $1,300 for fragrant jasmine rice.
--
Bloomberg
April 18, 2008
An average household in India spent 32 percent of its income on food last year compared with 6 percent for a household in the U.S., data from the department show. The figure for Indonesia was 43 percent, and 36 percent for the Philippines.
"Poorer countries tend to suffer more than developed countries," HSBC's Neumann said. "It is the poor who shoulder the biggest burden."
--
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Asian states feel rice pinch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm
Asian states feel rice pinch
Friday, 11 April 2008
Asian countries have been struggling to cope as the cost of rice has reached record levels.
The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks.
Shortages have begun to hit some importing countries.
Factors contributing to the price rise include:
• Poor harvests resulting from extreme weather
• A rise in demand in some rice-importing countries,
where populations and incomes are growing
• The expectation of further price increases - resulting in hoarding
• Low stockpiles and a long term lack of agricultural investment
The spike is also part of a general surge in food costs worldwide, so the option of switching to cheaper foods is often not available.
Producers including India, China and Vietnam have restricted exports as they try to protect their stocks and limit inflation.
Importers such as Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Afghanistan have been hit hard.
Prices are expected to remain volatile, though output is likely to grow later this year as farmers in Thailand and Vietnam plant additional crops.
INDIA
India is the second largest rice grower in the world behind China. With rice the staple food for 65% of the country's one billion plus people, much is consumed domestically.
But prices have been soaring - a shopkeeper in Delhi told the BBC that the cost of one variety had increased from 12 rupees (29 US cents) per kilogram to 16 rupees (39 cents) in the last two months.
Rice prices in the capital rose by 20% last year.
The government has announced a total ban on exports of non-basmati rice, in a bit to curb rising food prices, which have helped push inflation to a 13-month high.
The price for basmati rice, meanwhile, has been raised to $1,200 per tonne to discourage exports.
Officials say as yet there is no crisis - India has more than enough reserves to feed its population.
They also say India will honour its commitments to export rice to neighbouring Bangladesh.
But the International Rice Research Institute says that the sustainability of rice farming in India and beyond is threatened by overuse of fertilisers and soil health.
Stocks have come down over the last three years as agricultural growth has failed to match the rest of the economy.
And because of the low purchasing power of India's poor, even a small increase in prices can cause a sharp fall in real incomes.
BANGLADESH
Spiralling rice prices have left the people of Bangladesh facing their worst food shortages since the major famine of 1974.
Over the last year, prices have nearly doubled to about 35 taka (50 cents), while there has been no corresponding increase in wages.
Hundreds of poor families are now surviving on one meal a day, and spending 70-80% of their budget on food. The problem is most acute in urban areas where aid agencies say they are very concerned about infant malnourishment.
Local factors have contributed to the price rise. Bangladesh has been hit by severe flooding twice in the last year and a devastating cyclone in November.
The government is giving rice away to 2.6 million people and supplying some families at discounted prices.
It has had to import four million tonnes of rice from India over the last six months - more than double the usual amount.
But the government's critics say it has made matters worse with an anti-corruption drive that has led to the closure of many unofficial rice supply outlets closed down.
PHILIPPINES
Once self-sufficient in rice, the Philippines is listed by the US Department of Agriculture as the world's top importer of milled rice for 2007, ahead of Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Over the past 20 years or so, the country lost nearly half of its irrigated land to rapid urban development.
Domestic demand has risen as the population has grown, pushing up prices.
With rice stocks low, the government has been negotiating with neighbouring countries to secure imports, signing a deal with Vietnam and working for another one with Thailand.
Fears of public unrest have been growing. Communist guerrillas recently burnt a rice trader's vehicles in the central island of Panay.
President Gloria Arroyo has asked authorities to crack down on hoarders. Officials have said they could be charged with economic sabotage - a crime that carries a life sentence.
There have also been efforts to reduce consumption. Some of the country's fast-food chains are offering half portions of rice at the government's request. The government has also asked the public to save leftover rice.
Troops have been called in to protect deliveries of rice to poor areas, while farmers have reportedly begun guarding their crops.
Some government critics say it has not done enough, and members of the influential May First Labour Movement have been holding small-scale demonstrations in various parts of the country.
But others say the Ms Arroyo has overreacted, creating unnecessary panic.
THAILAND
Thailand has long been the world's largest exporter of rice, well ahead of Vietnam and the US.
It has not yet placed any restrictions on exports, and has denied reports that it is considering taking this step.
However, some rice millers and traders who deal on forward contracts have been suffering, after being caught out by price fluctuations.
Exporters have even complained that they would prefer to have stable prices than high prices.
Some millers have hoarded rice in an attempt to earn higher profits later on, pushing prices higher still as they restrict supply.
The government has released some of its 2.1 million tonnes of stockpiled rice in an attempt to contain inflation.
It has also said it will enforce a rule that exporters set aside at least 500 tonnes of rice to prevent shortages.
Rice prices increased by more than 50% last year and have doubled since the beginning of 2008.
While in some countries rice consumption has risen with prosperity, Thais have been eating a greater variety of foods and less rice as they have become wealthier.
CHINA
Chinese consumers have been have been eating less rice as their income has risen, according to the FAO.
Instead, they have been switching to meat and dairy products.
But the government, highly conscious of social or political tensions caused by food inflation, has moved to protect consumers by restricting exports.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said this week that China has an "abundant" supply of rice to feed its population of more than 1.3 billion.
China had stockpiled about 40-50 million tonnes of rice, he said.
Though China is not one of the top rice exporters, export restrictions can have a big impact on importers including North Korea, which buys rice from China at very low prices as it tries to cope with frequent food shortages.
Though short term supplies are secured, there are concerns that urbanisation and industrial development are putting pressure on farming.
JAPAN
Rice is thought to have been produced for more than 2,500 years in Japan, where it was once seen as so important that it was worshipped as a god.
Instead of importing rice, Japan heavily subsidises its rice farmers, paying them as much as four times the market price and restricting imports.
This policy is defended by a farming community with considerable political weight, and many Japanese agree home-grown rice tastes best.
Food security is seen as politically important and the country keeps a large stockpile of rice - even though it is probably wealthy enough to buy on the international market even if prices continue to rise.
Its scientists are already looking for varieties that will be resistant to higher temperatures caused by climate change.
Japan trades relatively small quantities and has little impact on the international market.
BBC SPECIAL REPORT - Food price crisis
Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/30Mar2008_news01.php
Rice Prices Soaring
but farmers find little to smile about
Piyaporn Wongruang
Golden stems of rice growing across paddies in the country's rice bowl are supposed to make the field's owners smile with pride. But the smiles have been wiped off the faces of farmers in the central region of Thailand due to fears that thieves might sneak into their fields at night and steal their precious assets. Since the middle of the month, rumours that rice has been stolen around the area spread across the fields in provinces from Lop Buri to Sing Buri and Ang Thong, where farmers like Sunthorn Pumkanklao, Bamrung Rodruedee and Somnuek Meechana have lived and grown rice for more than 20 years. The rumours have yet to be confirmed, but the talk already has farmers living in fear and has prompted them to stay out at night to keep an eye out for anything suspicious near their rice fields. They have to protect their rice crops at all costs.
"I'm so scared now that thieves will steal my rice. If they really do that, it is like they are killing me because everything in my life - my money, my efforts and my hopes - have been put into it," said Mr Somnuek, who grows rice on about 80 rai of land. It is almost fully blossomed now and about to be harvested. Mr Sunthorn said the farmers in his area are not allowed to carry sharp weapons unless they are authorised to by village headmen. As a result, the best they can carry is sticks and mobile phones.
"I'm not really sure that if I really encountered thieves I would be able to press the button. They would not come alone, for sure," he said. He also accompanies his neighbours like Mr Somnuek and Mr Bamrung to take care of their rice crops, which have been left to grow in the fields. A few days ago Mr Somnuek and his wife received a phone call from their daughter in Bangkok, who heard the news about thieves being rampant in the rice fields. She urged her mother to accompany her father at night. As a result, the couple stay awake and stay in the dark in their rice fields together.
The rumours are about as unprecedented as the soaring price of rice in the markets. According to recent records of the Agricultural Economics Office under the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, the local price of the best rice, Hom Dok Mali, rose from about 9,600 baht a tonne in December last year to 10,067 baht in January. The price of raw rice, which farmers usually immediately sell to traders, has also skyrocketed from 6,900 baht in January to between 9,000 and 10,500 baht in several local rice trading areas.
The soaring prices have significant implications for the country as well as for farmers. For more than 20 years Thailand has been the world's number one rice exporter. Thailand has been able to generate income from selling rice abroad of up to 80 billion to 100 billion baht a year, according to the Thai Rice Strategy from 2007 to 2011 report, produced under the supervision of the National Rice Policy Board, by the Rice Department, last year.
Last year, Thailand was able to export 9.20 million tonnes of rice, bringing in income worth about 119 billion baht. Increasing demand and the price of rice in the market therefore contributes further to the country's income, and farmer incomes. The increasing price of rice results from increasing global demand due to a shortage of supplies in some regions, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh and new demands from other countries such as Japan.
The increased demand and the price of rice in the market is a golden opportunity that Thai farmers must take advantage of. Mr Sunthorn said he has never seen such a high price for rice before. It is the first time he can also see profits after deducing production costs, he said. At one rice trading spot in Ang Thong, Sali Ngernpan, 68, rides on a rice truck to sell her rice which was harvested from a five-rai farm in Viset Chaichan district. The rice trader gave her 10,350 baht a tonne for her rice. After deducting the weight of the truck, she gets only about 34,000 baht.
"Grandma" Sali looks at the money, smiling. "Money? I will pay back my debts. I owe about 30,000 baht," she said, echoing Mr Sunthorn's remark that being a farmer is not easy. Very few understand the high price farmers pay for living their lives in paddy fields.
Almost all the farmers here in the central provinces have a narrow chance of seeing some profits from their investments. Besides not being able to determine the price of rice in the market, they have to shoulder the heavy production costs. Some farmers even start their seasons with heavy debts. Mr Sunthorn said a lot of farmers do not own land. They have to pay rent, which is likely to rise along with the rising price of rice. As well as rent for the farmland, they have to pay for seeds, fertiliser, pesticide, farm labour and transport to move their rice to the trading areas.
Most farmers believe all these rising costs are due to the soaring price of oil. Their production costs soon pile up and become part of the farmers' debts once the price of rice falls below these costs, or the farmers' rice is destroyed by natural disasters like floods and drought. According to the Thai Farmers Association, farmers now shoulder rice production costs for both rain-fed crops and off-seasonal crops of between 5,000 to 6,000 baht. These are likely to increase. The price of a pack of fertiliser has also risen, from about 500 baht to 1,000 baht at the moment, said Vichian Phuanglamjiak, a co-founder of the association.
The Agricultural Economics Office records show that with such investment costs, farmers will earn a narrow profit margin of about 340 baht per rai for rain-fed crops and 970 baht per rai for off-season crops. Mr Vichian said now farmers cannot earn anything if they cannot produce up to 600 kilogrammes of rice per rai. One rai of farmland will normally yield at best 1,000 kilogrammes of rice in a good year. Mr Vichian said the unstable rice price and high production costs have long been a concern for farmers, but these problems have never been properly addressed or solved by any governments. [1 rai = 1600 sq. meters or 0.395 acre]
He said he is now very worried that if farmers rush to grow rice following the soaring prices, they will later be hard pressed by rice traders and offered low prices for their rice. Some farmers are now rushing to grow a second crop, despite limited water supplies from the Royal Irrigation Department, which has to share water with other sectors.
Bangkok Post : General news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/28Mar2008_news01.php
Thailand braces for rice crisis
Soaring exports may cause local shortage
BANGKOK POST and AGENCIES
Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, 
could face a shortage of rice after skyrocketing prices have encouraged traders to substantially increase their export volumes, Prasert Kosalwit, the director-general of the Rice Department, said yesterday.
Concerns over shortages could lead to the introduction of measures to control the amount of rice exported in the second half of this year if the price continues to increase. The measures have been floated by Deputy Commerce Minister Wiroon Techapaiboon.
Fears of a shortage come against a backdrop of signs of rice shortages in some countries, including the Philippines and neighbouring Cambodia.
The Cambodian government yesterday appealed for people to remain calm and not to stock up on food commodities after the government banned rice exports on Wednesday.
The Philippines rushed to sign a purchase agreement with Vietnam for 1.5 million tonnes of rice this year to alleviate an expected shortage in coming months. The agreement came one day after the government announced the country was facing a serious rice supply crisis.
India has banned the export of rice to other countries, while China and Vietnam have already reduced export volumes.
''A rice shortage in the local market is very likely,'' warned Mr Prasert.
His comment was supported by rice export volumes which were more than one million tonnes a month from October last year to February this year.
The stockpile under the supervision of the Commerce Ministry is 2.1 million tonnes. That could ease domestic rice shortages for about three months, said Mr Prasert.
In case the rice stocks are used up and the rice shortage gets worse, the Rice Department will encourage farmers to grow a mixed breed paddy with a high average yield per rai of 1,200kg. The growing period for the mixed breed paddy is only 110 days.
Rice Exporters Association president Chookiat Ophaswongse admitted that the rice price and global demand would rise further from the second quarter of this year.
This is because Iran and Indonesia, which are regular customers, have not yet placed their orders for this year, he said. The two countries are expected to do so in the middle of this year.
Iran is likely to order at least one million tonnes and Indonesia more than 1.5 million tonnes. This has prompted rice millers and farmers to hoard rice for future speculation as well, said Mr Chookiat.
But Mr Chookiat said he is confident the government rice stockpile of 2.1 million tonnes would be enough to prevent a rice shortage for three to four months until paddy from the new season is harvested.
He said the main shortage would come from the race to export rice to other countries.
Thailand could face problems only when it exports more than nine million tonnes a year, he said. Over the past five months, the country sold more than one million tonnes a month to other countries. If this export volume continues, a shortage is possible, he added.
Mr Chookiat supported measures to stamp out excessive exports, suggesting that the government prepare to put in place a minimum export price system, which has been in use in India.
''If the rising rice price continues, the measure may be needed in the second half of this year,'' he said.
Under the measure, the government requires exporters to sell rice at determined prices which are higher than the market price to slow exports.
Bangkok Post : General news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/17Mar2008_news25.php
Farmers feel pinch from drought
Farmers in the North and Northeast are beginning to feel the pinch from this year's drought, which has already ravaged tens of thousands of rai of farmland.
A looming crisis prompted Deputy Interior Minister Sitthichai Kowsurat to inspect affected areas in Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket and Amnat Charoen provinces yesterday.
Ubon Ratchathani's deputy provincial governor Pramote Sajjarak told the deputy minister that almost 1,400 villages in the province were facing water shortages and that the water level in rivers and natural water sources was alarmingly low.
However, water levels in the Chi river, a major source of water for the Northeast, was still at a normal level for this time of year, he said.
Mr Sitthichai instructed provincial governors to set up drought-relief centres in every province and make sure that each province's 50-million-baht emergency fund was spent appropriately to help drought-affected people.
Eleven out of 17 districts in Surin have been declared disaster areas. The water crisis has reportedly affected 20,000 households and destroyed crops across over 4,500 rai of farmland, causing around 1.8 million baht in damage.
The province's famous "elephant village" in Tha Tum district has also been badly hit by the drought, raising concerns over the health of animals.
In Uttaradit province four districts have been declared disaster zones where some 30,000 rai of agricultural land has already been damaged.
Apiwat Kunarak, chief of the northern region environmental protection office, said northern residents would not only be hit by water shortages, but also possible forest fires and air pollution.
Widespread forest fires would increase the level of small dust particles in the air that could be harmful to residents.
"It is important that locals avoid slash-and-burn cultivation and other burning activities," he said.
The Meteorological Department, however, predicted that this year's drought will not be as serious as last year.
The dry season is expected to end in the first week of May when farmers and villagers hope the rain will return.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=581&Itemid=32
The false promise of biofuels
PHILIP BOWRING
16 July 2007
The idea that plant-based fuel will save the planet is silly, dangerous and expensive
Evidence continues to mount that the world’s growing appetite for energy produced from agricultural products is having a serious impact on food and other commodity prices as farmers, particularly in the United States, convert cropland from food production. Over time the impact will be large and mostly detrimental on income distribution around the world. It will probably be abandoned within a decade.
Fidel Castro, the octogenarian Cuban caudillo, roused himself in late June from the autumn of his patriarchy to denounce US support for the use of food crops in fuel production, saying support for such uses could cause huge numbers of deaths from hunger. Last week Achim Steiner, the head of the U.N. Environment Program echoed Castro’s concerns, saying there is serious reason for concern about the potential for ethanol production to threaten food supplies for the poor.
With its astonishing ability to convert sunlight and rain into energy, Asia’s tropical belt is at the epicenter of this new environmental chimera. But across the planet, while weather and other supply factors have been at work for some crops and in some locations, they are only a small part of the explanation for food prices.
Wheat, for instance, has risen from US$325 a ton to US$620 over the past 12 months, soybeans from US$675 to US$875, corn from US$225 to US$375, rice from US$7 a bushel to US$10. Indeed of the most-traded basic foodstuffs, only sugar is about where it was a year ago, at 10 US cents a pound, and even hit 20 cents in between.
Of industrial crops, cotton has been erratic but is back at 60 cents a pound compared with 50 cents a year ago and there are growing indications that a shift in land from cotton to corn and other bio-fuel crops in China and the US will lead to supply shortfalls in the not too distant future. Even rubber output may be squeezed if the palm oil boom, resulting from its appeal as a source of bio-diesel, leads to further conversion of rubber plantations to palm oil.
Much of the marginal demand for the food crops is directly attributable to the rush to make ethanol and bio-diesel in the name of reducing carbon emissions, whether or not the substitution is justified on economic grounds, let alone environmental ones.
That is not to condemn bio-fuels out of hand. Brazil has been producing ethanol from sugar cane since the first oil crisis and now does so very profitably. But Brazil already has the world’s lowest production costs for sugar. Sugar’s international price has long been depressed by subsidies elsewhere – notably the EU’s sugar beet subsidy and US domestic support prices for sugar. It is possible that Thailand can get a net benefit from turning both sugar cane and tapioca (otherwise a low-value crop grown on marginal land) into ethanol. In the short run at least, Malaysia and Indonesia are benefiting from a rise in palm oil prices, which they hope will be underwritten for the longer term by investing in bio-diesel plants which will sustain demand.
Almost everywhere, from the US to the EU to Malaysia, rules and tax breaks have been created to push bio-fuel output and usage. The additional demand for feedstock for the multiple bio-fuel plants now under construction or planned is hard to estimate. However, even if oil prices collapse and many plants never get built, government regulations and existing installed capacity are likely to ensure that crop prices remain high for the foreseeable future. Indeed the price rises of the past year may be just the beginning.
Yet even on the most optimistic estimates bio-fuels can have no more than a marginal impact on carbon emissions.
While the West basks in the idea that bio-fuel is cleaning up the planet, additional carbon releases are being created by the clearance of tropical forests for oil palm in Southeast Asia and soybeans in Brazil. Inefficiencies are rising from US and EU agricultural policies, with the US subsidizing corn producers by subjecting Brazil’s sugar-based ethanol to prohibitive tariffs and the EU’s ethanol policy absorbing surplus food and thereby delaying the reform of its agricultural policy, which has disrupted world markets for decades. In addition, chemical inputs and fossil-fuel burning machinery are needed to bring marginal land into production.
There will also be a major global impact on income distribution. Farmers generally will benefit from a rise in product prices, which is a plus. In most countries farmers have suffered from a decline in the terms of trade relative to their urban compatriots. However, much of the benefit will go to the largest farmers in rich and middle income countries with large agricultural surpluses – US, Canada, Argentina, Malaysia, Australia etc – and to corporate agriculture.
Populous countries such as India, China and Vietnam, with a high proportion of their population still rural, face a dilemma. Higher farm prices are good but they must also take into account the needs of the majority, whether urban or rural, who are not farmers. That means either suppressing farm gate prices by one means or another, or using central government funds that should be allocated to education or health, to subsidize basic foods.
The bottom line is that the poorer a person or family, the higher the proportion of income that is spent on food. A rise in food prices relative to other goods necessarily shifts income from the poor to the relatively rich, whether the car-owning majority in rich countries or the car-owning minority in poor ones. It could also lead to a reversal of the tendency towards improving diet. Producers of animal pigs, chickens, farmed fish, and egg all turn crops into animal protein and hence their prices will rise almost as fast as those of the inputs. Even the cost of simple cotton clothing may rise as a result of a shift of land into other uses.
Bio-fuels may salve the consciences of energy-intensive rich countries and benefit the few poorer ones that have an abundance of useful ingredients such as palm oil. But a few years from now the notion that enforced use of bio-fuels could be good for the planet will be seen as one of the sillier ideas to have gripped the world at the beginning of the 21st century.