Rice Jumps to One-Month High on Southeast Asia Crop Losses

Oct 24, 2011
By Luzi Ann Javier
Bloomberg

In Cambodia, which was forecast by the USDA to ship 1 million tons of rice this year, the FAO said 1.2 million people were affected by flooding that destroyed homes and hurt 332,634 hectares of rice fields. Before flooding, Cambodia was forecast to increase paddy production by 7.2 percent from a year earlier, to a record 8.9 million tons this year, the FAO said.

Rice jumped to the highest in more than a month after the United Nations said that flooding devastated crops in Southeast Asia, raising concerns of food shortages in affected areas.

Rough rice for January delivery jumped 50 cents, the most allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade, or 3 percent to $17.215 per 100 pounds as of 3:35 p.m. Singapore time. That’s the highest price for the most-active contract since Sept. 21.

About 12.5 percent of rice farmland in Thailand has been damaged, along with 6 percent in the Philippines, 12 percent in Cambodia, 7.5 percent in Laos and 0.4 percent in Vietnam, as storms hit the region since September, the UN Food & Agriculture Organization said in a report dated Oct. 21.

Thai Rice Damage May Push Up Global Prices, Mohanty Says

Oct 12, 2011
By Pratik Parija and Supunnabul Suwannakij
Bloomberg

Damage to rice crops from Thailand to Philippines may “push up” prices this year as global production of milled rice may be less than previously forecast, according to the International Rice Research Institute.

Flooding in Thailand, the biggest exporter, may have damaged as much as 5 million metric tons of paddy, while a typhoon in Philippines and flooding in Cambodia and Laos will trim rice output, Samarendu Mohanty, a senior economist at the institute, said in New Delhi today. Global production of milled rice may be as low as 455 million tons in the year that began on Sept. 1, less than the 460 million forecast last month, he said.

Reduced rice supplies, the staple for half the world, may fuel a 21 percent rally in prices in the past year in Chicago and boost global food costs that the United Nations predicts will remain high and fluctuating as demand rises because of economic growth. Damage to crops may boost import demand for rice, Robert Zeigler, director-general of the institute, said in a separate interview.

Thai-Vietnam teamwork to cash in on climbing rice price

23 August 2011

BANGKOK (Commodity Online) : In an effort to take advantage of rising Rice prices, leading exporters Thailand and Vietnam are looking for strengthening cooperation in the matter.

Thai rice exporters will meet their Vietnamese counterparts and the Vietnam Food Association in mid-September to evaluate the potential impact of the new government's revival of crop mortgages to help raise farmers' incomes, reports the Bangkok Post

In Thailand, the Pheu Thai-led administration has pledged to pay farmers 15,000 baht for a tonne for Paddy - about 4,000 baht more than prevailing market rates - during the next harvest starting in November. That could push up the export price of Thai 5% white rice to about US$800 a tonne from around $550 now.

Global rice prices forecast to rise soon

June, 13 2011
By Le Hung Vong
VNS

World rice prices have remained stable for the past year but that could change soon.

According to the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), rice prices have remained relatively stable, rising only 17 per cent since June last year against a 50-150 per cent hike seen in the prices of other crops.

This has been mainly due to the increased supply. In 2010 Thailand, Viet Nam, and the US exported 9 million tonnes, 6.8 million tonnes, and 5.5 million tonnes respectively. With weather conditions being favourable, rice production in Cambodia, India, and Bangladesh is expected to increase this year.

The IRRI said, however, the rise in the prices of other crops could make some Asian countries like Indonesia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh either expand their reserves or impose bans on rice exports.

Global rice prices, which are expected to increase anyway this year due to the drought in China, would be forced up by the policy, though they are unlikely to hit the records seen in 2008 in Asia.

Catch 22 in Hun Sen's so-called development policy: Farm sell-offs endanger Cambodian rice production

Farm sell-offs endanger Cambodian rice production

PHNOM PENH, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Rice production will be reduced in Cambodia if rice fields continue to be sold to be converted to business, factory or residential sites, the Mekong Times newspaper reported Monday, citing an Agriculture Ministry official.

"We are worried that, in the future, only non-fertile land will remain for cultivation because most of the rice fields will have been sold off," Kit Seng, director of the planning department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Uon Sophal, a farmer in Cambodia's Kampot province, said that if current land transaction trends continue, most farmland will end up in the hands of the rich.

"Then farmers will find it more difficult to afford food," he said. "I would like to appeal to farmers not to sell their land because this will cause a shortage of farmland and it will drive rice prices up, which will be a burden on the country."

Farms in Cambodia are currently run overwhelmingly by impoverished farmers, and because of this poverty they are often tempted to sell their land for ready cash, said Chey Siyat, a member of an agricultural NGO.

According to MAFF figures, 85 percent of Cambodia's population relies on agriculture for a living.

Cambodia produces 6 million tons of unhusked rice annually and there are 2.3 million hectares of rice paddy land.