Bloomberg
SINGAPORE - Parts of South-east Asia face "serious food shortages" after flooding devastated rice and other crops since the start of last month and aid deliveries are disrupted, the United Nations said.
About 12.5 per cent of rice farmland in Thailand has been damaged, along with 6 per cent in the Philippines, 12 per cent in Cambodia, 7.5 per cent in Laos and 0.4 per cent in Vietnam, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report on Friday.
Crop losses may help sustain a 17-per-cent rally in rice futures in Chicago this year, adding pressure on food costs, and creating more problems for government leaders across Asia, where the grain is the main staple, said Ms Lynette Tan, an analyst at Phillip Futures. The UN Food Price Index of 55 commodities including cereals, meat, sugar and dairy rose to a record in February.
"Given that flooding in Thailand is not really getting any better, we see that going forward, there could be some room for prices to go up," Ms Tan said.
Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, was forecast to account for 31 per cent of the 34.2 million metric tonnes of global trade of the grain this year, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Vietnam is the second-largest shipper, according to the USDA. The Philippines was the largest buyer last year.
Rough-rice for January delivery rose 0.5 per cent to close at US$16.715 (S$21.20) per 100 pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade last Friday. The export price for the 100 per cent grade B Thai white rice, the benchmark in Asia, gained 1 per cent to US$625 per metric tonne on Oct 19, taking gains this year to 13 per cent.
Thailand may lose six million tonnes of rough-rice from flooding, paring the main harvest to 19 million tonnes, Mr Apichart Jongskul, secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics, said last Friday. The damage estimate does not include rice stored in warehouses that have been submerged in floodwaters, he said.
Thailand's main harvest, which typically accounts for 70 per cent of annual production, was forecast by the government at 25.8 million tonnes before the floods.
The Philippines lost almost 600,000 tonnes of milled rice from typhoons that struck the country, Mr Lito Banayo, administrator of National Food Authority said last Thursday. That is equal to almost 17 days of demand, according to Bloomberg calculations, based on the national daily consumption.
3 comments:
it's a wake up for the world that depends too much on siem or thailand export monopoly! next time, start diversify into cambodia for a change, really!
if prices of food supplies from thailand keep going up, then consumers will stop buying thai products, so be careful with jacking up the prices, you know! thai products could be left for waste and spoilage if consumers stop buying them, you know!
You better to leurn about quality and consumer loyaty and trust! foll above!
Working harder and proper way to compeet , boy!
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