High Rice Cost Creating Fears Of Asia Unrest

[bingobongo]

how are prices for food staples in Thailand? i know pork is up 35%..........

High Rice Cost Creating Fears of Asia Unrest

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/business...amp;oref=slogin

Edited March 29, 2008 by bingobongo

[zzdocxx]

It looks like you may need a subscription to access that link, but I did post it already in the following thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=176973

[CaptainNemo]

I read that global warming is going to have major effects in the Far East.

Thailand: flooding along the Chao Phraya; droughts all across the eastern half:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/01/news/water.php

importantly... this is set to affect China in a big way much sooner... they face massive crop-wrecking droughts in Manchuria; the Yangtze's practically dead; and their population isn't shrinking... this is going to add to pressure on Thai rice prices... I can see China, Japan, and Korea trade warring over Thai and Vietnamese rice... certainly I've seen evidence of the Koreans trying to get their tentacles into Vietnam; whilst Japan try the same with Thailand to form symbiotic relationships of food<->tech transfer.

I worry about those I know in Isaan being affected by drought in the approaching future... and I also worry about Thailand's high population growth rate and the overcentralisation of the country around an ever-expanding Bangkok... I think there are going to be some major "upheavals" occurring in about 20 years' time; and there are certainly places I wouldn't like to be, or be invested in, even in Thailand - with that in mind. (Mind you, it is a global thing, and the same goes for certain parts of England as well.)

Edited April 3, 2008 by CaptainNemo

[cclub75]

I read that global warming is going to have major effects in the Far East.

Thailand: flooding along the Chao Phraya; droughts all across the eastern half:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/01/news/water.php

importantly... this is set to affect China in a big way much sooner... they face massive crop-wrecking droughts in Manchuria; the Yangtze's practically dead; and their population isn't shrinking... this is going to add to pressure on Thai rice prices... I can see China, Japan, and Korea trade warring over Thai and Vietnamese rice... certainly I've seen evidence of the Koreans trying to get their tentacles into Vietnam; whilst Japan try the same with Thailand to form symbiotic relationships of food<->tech transfer.

I love this quote : ""We do not have a water crisis. We have a management crisis," said Witoon Permpongsacharoen, secretary general of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, a nonprofit organization in Bangkok."

Typical of so called expert non sense.

A "management crisis" in Asia... is a crisis by itself.

Just "stop the pollution"... just "fix the leaks in the water distribution system, and you double the capacity" etc. are just stupid ideas. Because we all know that those are the challenges and that the authorities won't do anything about it.

Instead, we should ask : what can we do if nothing change ? My point : it's just stupid to think about the plan A... it won't happen. We need the plan B.

Anyway. Back to rice.

I found an interesting article.

"There is no dearth of explanations as to why these shortages are occurring."

It's apparently a cocktail of factors : bad crops, higher demand because population growth and changes of diet in India and China, bio fuels, speculation etc.

Edited April 3, 2008 by cclub75

[bendix]

IHT featured a cover story about rice prices at the weekend. The price of Thai rice (seen as the region's benchmark) has risen around 90% in three months, to the point that it interviewed Thai rice farmers who slept by their fields to ward off poachers.

I was in Philippines last week, and the main news story was around Arroya's efforts to shore up rice supplies (they can't grow enough to feed themselves) and persuade Vietnam to export enough rice to PI to see them through.

Some countries (including Indonesia) are looking at banning rice exports to ensure their own people have enough.

not good. not good at all.