Rice Climbs To Record As World Bank Warns Of Thai Export Risk

[geriatrickid]

This is one overblown story. There should be no food shortages in Thailand. We can thank Vietnam for that as it has replaced Thailand on at least 30% of the market in food exports. That would suggest then that Thailand has lots of food left to feed everyone. The only people that will be starving will be the usual folks in Africa and economically depressed regions like Haiti. It's not like any of the Bangla St. regulars in Patong will be shedding a tear for them.

Besides, Canada is about to make a massive grain donation to the International agencies that will act to alleviate the short term crisis for grains other than rice.

These idiots hording rice in the USA are just that. The USA has a rice surplus. Don't people realize that grains have to be stored under appropriate conditions? Most of the horders are going to see their stock lost to mold, vermin and general rot.

Oh well, there is always the solyent green solution..............

[slapout]

Some experts? on farm commiditys, oil, natural gas, etc blame the price surges on the money funds who are active in futures trading. I will bet against farmers here getting much benifit from the raiseing farm prices. Oil and gas producers seem to be doing fine as frog hair with present prices, but farmers buy supplies at retail and sell wholesale and are kept in this position for a reason. Ask the middlemen what they pay farmer vs what they recieve for crop, as well as storage of same? The precieved shortage of grains etc may be partly due to the shortfalls being found in what is claimed to be in storage vs what is actually in the warehouses. Rice, and Lamyai come to mind. Many of the food shortage in the world seem to be due to lack of transport, waste, and corruption.

[Heng]

Oh well, there is always the solyent green solution..............

What do you think they've been doing with old/expired expats? Solyent pushcart meat on a stick.

[aries27]

me too, i dont think there is a real rice shortage, or at least if there is, it will be alleviated soon.

rice harvest is usually april and may (the major cropping season as there are second or even third for some) in PH. that is why traditionally, may is the month for celebrations, festivals. farmers have money and the work is done.

me thinks hoarding and the "sky is falling" mentality is exacerbating the situation. many factors are being cited for this crisis from environmental (flooding in one, drought in one), to the shifting use of land from agricultural to commercial/industrial, overpopulation, and of course, no one is admitting it, but also cartels, private or government supported. but isnt it just a bit suspicious how this problem sort of just came out of nowhere? would have expected shortage like this to develop gradually or at least had a cyclical history recently. there is none i can remember.

oh well, if this continues, i would not mind going back to some little farms my father owns. i have had experience harvesting rice when i was small. fun but not fun... i just cant live without rice. ok, maybe two days, but after that, i get hallucinations!

Edited April 26, 2008 by aries27

[jerrylee]

Overall should be positive for Thailand as a country.

But would be nice to see grass roots Thailand benefit from all this rather than a select few.

When it comes to Africa and famine, hopefully it will encourage outside countries to help Africa grow/develop its own staple foods, and find more longer lasting solutions.

In the meaner capiitalist society: Those holding soft commodity funds should also see a good year this year. Though quite a few, eg Tisco's recently launched Agriculture Euro Fund in Thailand, seemed to have overlooked rice...

In theory all farmers can grow 2 crops a year, the bottomline is fair distribution of water, however, Long-term irrigation project does not offer short-term political gains, because it requires years for the results of any irrigation project to be realised. Issan villages that face annual droughts and are dubbed "chronic drought-affected villages". Thus, the villagers are forced to wait desperately for money handouts (vote buyings) from politicians.

Large scale factory farming produces numerous problems and does not necessarily increase yield, a more holistic approach is needed - The only models we have are that of a "Self-Sufficient Economy" guidelines.

The relation between consumption and water use

The water footprint of a nation shows the total volume of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation. Since not all goods consumed in one particular country are produced in that country, the water footprint consists of two parts: use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes both the water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).

The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water.

To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water.

The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only about 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.

Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.

The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.

http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

.. also ..

The Most Destructive Project On Earth - Alberta's Tar Sands

http://www.celsias.com/2008/03/04/the-most...nds-from-space/

[jerrylee]

Take a look around at the rice whole sale merchants around Asia and looksee who is controlling the rice markets.

Chicago Board of Trade is one ...

[jerrylee]

Let Them Eat Cake !

Turn all golf greens into rice paddies and charge tourist for eco experience,

a lot of water is needed to keep those greens green, so either green charges to go way UP!

or perhaps better profits for the club ..

Expensive food cycle is expected to last 10 years or more !

[jerrylee]

none of the articles explain why supply is down so far from last year?

Vietnam had a partial crop failure.

so just a fluke and will be back to normal in a year

This year's first tropical cyclone was reported as earliest recorded since WW2, its not a fluke that the ecology is tipped un-balanced,

tropical cyclones hit at the rice belt of asia - now how many is required to wipe out the year's crop?

[jerrylee]

Certainly there will be a few more Benz sold upcountry this year.

You are perhaps implying, quite falsely by the way, that farmers are the ones benefiting from these high prices? The bulk of the increased profits are going to the families that, in effect, control the rice exporting cartel in Bangkok, and rest assured they are already driving such automobiles. Some of the profit might find its way into Thailand, but most will never enter the Kingdom but rather will be places into offshore accounts.

Chaiyo!

even the big exporters are now exposed to much higher risk, risk of going bankrupt!

only the government will gain more taxes as a windfall

you can expand the area but you cannot make more water!

Thailand's rice industry is still reliies on road transport which means expensive oil -

For every millionaire created - a million children dies of starvation !!

[jerrylee]

Does any one here know how much the Thai rice farmer gets paid per kg?

Are there any nationwide statistics in english around to read?

I don't know, but I'm sure there will be members here who have family as rice farmers.

This is a link for Rice EXPORT prices supplied by The Rice Exporters Association

http://www.riceexporters.or.th/price.htm

Statistics:

http://www.riceexporters.or.th/List_%20of_statistic.htm

LaoPo

Here's latest from a neighbour in Udon Thani (prices differs from region to region),

400,000 bht for sale of rice off 20 rai of land

the financially "smart" thing to do is to sell the 20 rai and put the money into some euro Food Fund ?

then it becomes a question of moral ?

[justSumGai]

Food & Rice Price Crisis - in general -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/...ood/default.stm

Rice Production and Consumption

Price of Rice

Top 10 Countries Receiving Rice Aid

Asian states feel rice pinch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm#graph

LaoPo

I can see one way to reapportion things. STOP giving India 8% aid as they waste an amount equivalent to Canadas wheat harvest by letting pests and rot get to stored rice.

[jerrylee]

bad, just bad for countries dependent on rice import like mine...

but the good thing about this, is that a rice crisis like this is just the jolt PH needs. i believe, this country can well produce sufficient rice it needs. just better support for agriculture, more efficient systems, change of mentality that agriculture is a job for the poor, less educated, and those with no ambitions (yes! white collar jobs are always desired here -- never mind if you have to work in a polluted, crowded, stressful city and with cost of living so much higher than your income) and less laziness...

Aries, I agree that the PI has the climate, the land mass and the workers to become far more self-sufficient in its rice production. What has been lacking is the governmental push and the necessary infrastructure to make it happen. All you hear from GA and her administration is that they will send rice horders to prison. Since the primary rice horders will probably be the crooked politicians that surround GA, it will be interesting to see if she will follow through with her threats.

not really the time to do the blame game here. if we have to, we would be blaming the past administrations as well which supported the policy of rice-importing than rice sufficiency. where did you hear about rice hoarders being sent to prison? i read news and watch it here, i don't know about it.

i happen to graduate from the this university which is famous for "teaching the thais to plant rice"... i did not take an agricultural course but a semi-environmental, btw.

anyway, one thing i can say how thais became more successful from their filipino teachers? the agricultural graduates of thailand (and india, lots of them when i attended college in the 80s) came home and taught their expertise to the farmers. the filipino agricultural graduates however went out to apply for jobs like marketing executives for agribusiness products like selling fertilizers, pesticides etc. with their cars, cozy makati offices, and other perks. but at whose expense?

population explosion (hey we are now 89 million strong!!! ) is also getting a big whipping. how much is thailand? there was a time i think our population was just about the same...

but as i have said, it is not the time to be blaming anybody anymore. if all those people lying all day and feeling sorry for themselves and criticizing whatever would start picking some spade, and planting whatever, they'll be healthier, happier and too tired to think of making more babies!!!!

good morning all!

The International Rice Research Institute is in PI and not in Thailand !!

you can develop the techniques but you cannot change the topography of the country

[sangfroid]

Meanwhile...

Rice Shortage Roils San Francisco Stores, Markets, Food Banks

By Ryan Flinn

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- A group of shoppers came into Farmer Joe's Marketplace in Oakland one morning this week and bought all the 50-pound bags of rice. A few miles away at Berkeley Bowl Marketplace, long-grain rice is sold out.

``Our distributors can't get any,'' said Kirk Tamaki, 56, Berkeley Bowl's Asian food buyer. ``Short grain is all we have.''

A global rice shortage that has forced China and Vietnam to curb overseas sales of the food staple has reached the San Francisco Bay Area, home of one of the largest concentrations of Asian-Americans in the U.S. Stores, restaurants and food banks report dwindling supplies, and retail prices are rising.

Peter Seith, 43, Berkeley Bowl Marketplace's bulk foods manager, said he recently visited his girlfriend in the Philippines, the world's largest importer of rice last year. Prices there have doubled, he said.

``We haven't seen that here yet,'' he said. ``But we're anticipating it.''

The price of a 20-pound bag of short-grain rice at the store has increased to $15.15, up 76 percent from $8.59 last week, said customer service representative Culyon Garrison.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, rice has reached a record high 14 times this month, including yesterday, when futures for July delivery hit $25.07 per 100 pounds. They closed at $24.32.

To combat hoarding, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club has limited purchases of jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice to four bags a visit in all U.S. stores.

Buying Restrictions

A Costco Wholesale Corp. store in San Francisco this week limited rice purchases to five bags per customer. Later in the week, on April 23, the outlet reduced that number to two.

Lorette Mopannam, a shopper at the Costco store, asked a passing worker about the restriction.

``I never tried this rice, but I'm going to,'' she said, after not finding her normal brand among the dwindling bags in front of her.

Restaurant Depot, a wholesale company that supplies San Francisco restaurants, is limiting rice purchases to 10 bags a customer, said Thanh Pham, a manager at its San Jose location. ``Every single type of rice is gone right now,'' Pham said.

Mary Cheng, manager of the Pot Sticker restaurant, which serves Hunan, Szechwan and Mandarin fare in an alleyway in Chinatown and gets some of its rice from Restaurant Depot, lamented the shortage.

``Before, they had many kinds of rice,'' she said.

Social Unrest

The record prices of rice, wheat, corn and soybeans this year have spurred social unrest in Haiti, Egypt and other countries. The higher commodities prices are also pushing up U.S. food prices and spurring inflation. The consumer price index climbed 0.3 percent in March, after no change in the prior month, the Labor Department said April 16.

Nick Balzamit, manager of Baladie Gourmet Cafe, a Middle Eastern restaurant, also noticed the recent price increase.

``Yeah, what's the deal with that?'' he said. ``Jasmine rice, we checked for it at Sam's Club and Costco in Sacramento and they didn't have it.''

``I'd better go shopping,'' said Rita Abraldes, owner of Paladar, a Cuban café in San Francisco, which uses 40 to 50 pounds of rice a week.

Limits on rice purchases will be felt the most in California and Texas, which have large Asian and Mexican populations whose diets rely on rice, said food consultant Jim Degen, principal of J.M. Degen & Co. in Templeton, California.

About 32 percent of San Francisco's 744,000 people are of Asian ancestry, and 14 percent are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Charitable Groups

The shortage is affecting Bay Area charitable organizations, who say the number of people seeking meals has increased just as supplies are tightening. The San Francisco Food Bank will distribute some rice from recently received truckloads it agreed to purchase last year, though the price volatility means future stocks could decrease.

``Our pantry manager is very concerned,'' said Francis Aviani, spokeswoman for the St. Anthony Foundation, which serves about 2,600 free meals a day in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood. The shelter doles out about 3,000 pounds of rice a month.

``Rice is a significant portion of what we serve,'' Aviani said. ``We're covered until the truck is empty, and then we don't know.''

---Bloomberg Exclusive Report

LaoPo

A week or so ago the rice department at Carrefour in Ratchada Rd was EMPTY!!

[jerrylee]

This is huge news - this could change the economy of Thailand forever.

With a tremendous increase in the selling price, we will likely see the same changes that other countries have gone through - inflation and rapid changes to the society.

We are planning to come to live in Thailand in late 2008 or 2009 - it would be interesting to follow the effects of this change as they develop. Does anyone have any forecast on what should happen?

The floor for being the poorest will not change, any poorer they will died off, it is good news for a small bunch of people who will reap profits from all these, and new millionaires added to the list, but most likely a new class of urban poor will be introduced, and greater divide between the two ...

Thailand can follow H.M. the King's recommendations to go Organic and aim at Self-Sufficient Economy!

[jerrylee]

I expect the futures price exporters lock in now, for November deliveries of rice, will be significantly higher than the spot price that growers will be getting at that time. Presumably, as in prior years, growers will be in debt at the end of the season. The problem this year is, their expectations of higher prices may lead to even greater indebtedness. If the price doesn't hold up they're fuc_ked.

The high price of fertilizers and oil means greater risks for farmers, the next debt could mean losing a lot more?

If there's any hic-cups in the weather or water supplies or polutions - they'll be royal "f'd" ?

what's your take on the weather this year ?

[YoungFarang13]

sorry but this is temporary not permanent, right?

[kat]

When it comes to Africa and famine, hopefully it will encourage outside countries to help Africa grow/develop its own staple foods, and find more longer lasting solutions.

The reason is very easy to understand : http://omrpublic.iea.org/

2008

Global demand = 87,2 millions barrels per day

Global supply = 87,3 millions barrels per day

Furthermore... looks at the charts on the right : global and OPEC supply already increased (and a lot) during Q4 2007 and Q1 2008 !

Speculation, war premium, Disneyworld, fear of attacks by E.T or whatever.... those are non sense or marginal factors.

The reality is : supply-demand.

As to expect global oil supply to increase over, over, and quickly it's just whishfull thinking on the short / mid term.

Prepare your wallet. Or your bicycle.

Excellent response. Even if production was increased, China & India would gobble it up.

More production will not help in the long term. Only the taming of the demand from industrial nations will do that.

The world's population is getting fatter at an alarming rate. There is no shortage of food, just a population lost in gluttony! If everyone made it a point to get down to a decent weight, food shortages would disappear. This is clearly a very important personal health issue that the media is making out to be a food industry problem.

How we doin' folks?

The EU is paying to keep land fallow. The US doing something similar.

And then to cap it all off also subsidising production for bio-fuels.

Worldwide madness.

This is a world-wide situation at the moment, that includes more than just rice shortages. Overall it is grains and other staples as well. There are a few issues converging at the moment to make food shortages overall a global crisis, including increased population and demand (not to mention the rising middle class in China and the corresponding increased demand for grain-fed meat along with everywhere else), diversion of some grains into bio-fuels and the associated subsidized agribusiness, prior crop shortages due to unprecedented changes in weather, and the price of oil, which has risen to spectacular heights and is a variable in fertilizers, production, and transport. All are factors, but the unprecedented price of oil may have been the last remaining linchpin that just gave way to the immediate and acute effects on the global and overall market.

[kat]

me too, i dont think there is a real rice shortage, or at least if there is, it will be alleviated soon.

rice harvest is usually april and may (the major cropping season as there are second or even third for some) in PH. that is why traditionally, may is the month for celebrations, festivals. farmers have money and the work is done.

me thinks hoarding and the "sky is falling" mentality is exacerbating the situation. many factors are being cited for this crisis from environmental (flooding in one, drought in one), to the shifting use of land from agricultural to commercial/industrial, overpopulation, and of course, no one is admitting it, but also cartels, private or government supported. but isnt it just a bit suspicious how this problem sort of just came out of nowhere? would have expected shortage like this to develop gradually or at least had a cyclical history recently. there is none i can remember.

oh well, if this continues, i would not mind going back to some little farms my father owns. i have had experience harvesting rice when i was small. fun but not fun... i just cant live without rice. ok, maybe two days, but after that, i get hallucinations!

It actually has been other's radar for awhile, but has only recently become a world news event because of the severity and urgency of the situation as it stands now. If you are part of the population that has a very tight margin for food and basic necessities of life, and have slowly watched food prices relative to your subsistence income surge from 40-50% to 80%, and now over 100% in some areas, the sky very well is falling for you. This has also affected areas in Thailand where the population lives on very thin margins.

[sometimewoodworker]

Rice Falls From Record as Thailand, Brazil Will Not Limit Sales

April 25 (Bloomberg) --

Japan, which is self-sufficient in rice, will delay seeking imports of the grain required under a World Trade Organization agreement until international prices stabilize, a government official said yesterday. The country imported 630,550 tons of rice in the year ended March 31, part of a WTO agreement to seek 770,000 tons.

Japan is "self-sufficient in rice" but imports 630k tons? Sounds like just a bit of a contradiction.

Japan is beeing forced to open up the market that has been kept closed to keep the LDP in power But it is a very small opening

FWIW the minimum price of Long grain Thai rice in Japan is 160Baht per Kg

[Spee]

Rice Falls From Record as Thailand, Brazil Will Not Limit Sales

April 25 (Bloomberg) --

Japan, which is self-sufficient in rice, will delay seeking imports of the grain required under a World Trade Organization agreement until international prices stabilize, a government official said yesterday. The country imported 630,550 tons of rice in the year ended March 31, part of a WTO agreement to seek 770,000 tons.

Japan is "self-sufficient in rice" but imports 630k tons? Sounds like just a bit of a contradiction.

Japan is beeing forced to open up the market that has been kept closed to keep the LDP in power But it is a very small opening

FWIW the minimum price of Long grain Thai rice in Japan is 160Baht per Kg

The issue is not with the cost of the rice per se, but rather the cost of getting that product to the desired market. Like getting a rocket to low earth orbit, where the weight of the fuel is the biggest obstacle to overcome, getting rice to Japan, the transport costs may be more than the cost of the actual rice itself.

[kat]

Rice Falls From Record as Thailand, Brazil Will Not Limit Sales

April 25 (Bloomberg) --

Japan, which is self-sufficient in rice, will delay seeking imports of the grain required under a World Trade Organization agreement until international prices stabilize, a government official said yesterday. The country imported 630,550 tons of rice in the year ended March 31, part of a WTO agreement to seek 770,000 tons.

Japan is "self-sufficient in rice" but imports 630k tons? Sounds like just a bit of a contradiction.

Japan is beeing forced to open up the market that has been kept closed to keep the LDP in power But it is a very small opening

FWIW the minimum price of Long grain Thai rice in Japan is 160Baht per Kg

The issue is not with the cost of the rice per se, but rather the cost of getting that product to the desired market. Like getting a rocket to low earth orbit, where the weight of the fuel is the biggest obstacle to overcome, getting rice to Japan, the transport costs may be more than the cost of the actual rice itself.

Fossil fuels and energy-intensive crops DO factor into the price of rice as both INPUTS and transportation costs. In addition, the rising cost of petro and energy for personal consumption and individual transport has also eaten into incomes, especially for the poor. Combined with world supplies and previously mentioned factors in my posts above, the current situation is a result of both supply and demand.

*added: which compounds getting rice to Japan, because now there is a potential hording or rationing situation, although this isn't an issue in the case of Japan, as I understand it.

Edited April 27, 2008 by kat

[LaoPo]

Rice Falls From Record as Thailand, Brazil Will Not Limit Sales

April 25 (Bloomberg) --

Japan, which is self-sufficient in rice, will delay seeking imports of the grain required under a World Trade Organization agreement until international prices stabilize, a government official said yesterday. The country imported 630,550 tons of rice in the year ended March 31, part of a WTO agreement to seek 770,000 tons.

Japan is "self-sufficient in rice" but imports 630k tons? Sounds like just a bit of a contradiction.

Japan is beeing forced to open up the market that has been kept closed to keep the LDP in power But it is a very small opening

FWIW the minimum price of Long grain Thai rice in Japan is 160Baht per Kg

The issue is not with the cost of the rice per se, but rather the cost of getting that product to the desired market. Like getting a rocket to low earth orbit, where the weight of the fuel is the biggest obstacle to overcome, getting rice to Japan, the transport costs may be more than the cost of the actual rice itself.

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."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm#graph

LaoPo

[richabb1]

I expect the futures price exporters lock in now, for November deliveries of rice, will be significantly higher than the spot price that growers will be getting at that time. Presumably, as in prior years, growers will be in debt at the end of the season. The problem this year is, their expectations of higher prices may lead to even greater indebtedness. If the price doesn't hold up they're fuc_ked.

The high price of fertilizers and oil means greater risks for farmers, the next debt could mean losing a lot more?

If there's any hic-cups in the weather or water supplies or polutions - they'll be royal "f'd" ?

what's your take on the weather this year ?

In the west, farmers would appreciate the rise in commodity prices, corn, wheat, barley, rice. World wide I bet figures support that there is more food produced today than any time before in history and that the raw farm gate price is cheapest it has ever been, Without rises in commodity prices there really would be food shortages as fertilizer and diesel would be forcing more off the land. Asian / African farmers are buffered from input costs rises to some extent, but this also reflects in their productivity per unit area. While we can argue sufficiency or commercial agriculture all day, those nations relying on the 'technique passed down from on generation to the next - self sufficiency' do seem most threatened at the present. Probably this is why EU governements still maintain subsidy systems to some families to maintain 'agricultural techniques'.

[Shotime]

My Thai GF is telling me her Mother keeps calling asking for money because the price of rice is so high. I told her to tell her Mother to eat cake.

you run a tight shift dude.

Not sure what you mean by "shift", but, if you meant "ship," and it's so tight, then why am I sinking so fast?

This rice thing sounds like the latest scare tactic for price-gouging. Fear runs the world. Everyone should stop eating rice, and stop buying gas for a few days.

[clausewitz]

The issue is not with the cost of the rice per se, but rather the cost of getting that product to the desired market. Like getting a rocket to low earth orbit, where the weight of the fuel is the biggest obstacle to overcome, getting rice to Japan, the transport costs may be more than the cost of the actual rice itself.

Uhh, no. Japan places restrictions and immense duties on rice imports.

[LaoPo]

Thai Rice Exporters Won't Take Part in Philippine Rice Tender

By Anuchit Nguyen

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Rice exporters from Thailand, the world's biggest supplier, will not take part in a Philippine rice tender next week because the government can't guarantee contracts, a commerce ministry official said.

The Thai government is barred by law from providing any guarantee for private companies bidding for overseas contracts, Apiradi Tantraporn, director general of the ministry's foreign trade department, said on Business Radio today. Bidders must submit a ``government guarantee'' to ensure timely delivery of the agreed volume and quality of rice, according to the Philippine National Food Authority's tender invite.

The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, increased the size of a tender for the grain on May 5 by more than a third to 675,000 metric tons as it struggles to meet domestic demand amid a global shortage. Philippine purchases may further tighten supplies of rice and boost prices, which rose above $25 per 100 pounds for the first time in Chicago last week as governments scramble to secure stockpiles.

``It's the first time that the Philippines has this strict requirement,'' said Apiradi. ``Thai exporters will inevitably be absent from the bids because the government can't give them the guarantee.''

The Philippines has failed to attract enough bids to fill volumes sought at tenders this year. National Food, which handles the state's rice imports, signed contracts to buy 323,875 tons from an April 17 tender for as much as 500,000 tons, agreeing to pay between $872.50 a ton and $1,220 a ton.

Thailand supplied about 30 percent of Philippines rice imports in 2007, said Apiradi. Vietnam, the second-biggest exporter, supplied most of the shipments.

---Bloomberg

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

Excerpt:

"Rough rice for July delivery rose as much as 44 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $24.62 per 100 pounds and stood at $24.30 at 3 p.m. Singapore time. Rice has more than doubled in the past year as China, Vietnam and Egypt curbed sales to safeguard domestic reserves, reaching a record $25.07 on April 24."

From:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=aNMSPsuJJ63s

LaoPo

[Spee]

The issue is not with the cost of the rice per se, but rather the cost of getting that product to the desired market. Like getting a rocket to low earth orbit, where the weight of the fuel is the biggest obstacle to overcome, getting rice to Japan, the transport costs may be more than the cost of the actual rice itself.

Uhh, no. Japan places restrictions and immense duties on rice imports.

Yes, I'm well aware of this fact, and have stated so in many earlier posts before this thread. It is a classic example of government intervention in the free market causing the bulk of population to pay more than they should have to. It is well known that Japanese rice prices are some of the highest in the world for no other reason that this protectionist subsidy.

My point in the other post was that transport costs can be very high relative to the cost of the actual product. Just as with the US importing oil from the middle east, the transportation costs are enormous compared to what they could be with local production.

[jerrylee]

Excerpt:

"Rough rice for July delivery rose as much as 44 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $24.62 per 100 pounds and stood at $24.30 at 3 p.m. Singapore time. Rice has more than doubled in the past year as China, Vietnam and Egypt curbed sales to safeguard domestic reserves, reaching a record $25.07 on April 24."

From:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=aNMSPsuJJ63s

LaoPo

Ideas of increasing production should only follow after ideas of how to reduce the use of petroleum,

otherwise it is still - use of land and water to convert petroleum into food !

[farang prince]

bad, just bad for countries dependent on rice import like mine...

but the good thing about this, is that a rice crisis like this is just the jolt PH needs. i believe, this country can well produce sufficient rice it needs. just better support for agriculture, more efficient systems, change of mentality that agriculture is a job for the poor, less educated, and those with no ambitions (yes! white collar jobs are always desired here -- never mind if you have to work in a polluted, crowded, stressful city and with cost of living so much higher than your income) and less laziness...

Aries, I agree that the PI has the climate, the land mass and the workers to become far more self-sufficient in its rice production. What has been lacking is the governmental push and the necessary infrastructure to make it happen. All you hear from GA and her administration is that they will send rice horders to prison. Since the primary rice horders will probably be the crooked politicians that surround GA, it will be interesting to see if she will follow through with her threats.

not really the time to do the blame game here. if we have to, we would be blaming the past administrations as well which supported the policy of rice-importing than rice sufficiency. where did you hear about rice hoarders being sent to prison? i read news and watch it here, i don't know about it.

i happen to graduate from the this university which is famous for "teaching the thais to plant rice"... i did not take an agricultural course but a semi-environmental, btw.

anyway, one thing i can say how thais became more successful from their filipino teachers? the agricultural graduates of thailand (and india, lots of them when i attended college in the 80s) came home and taught their expertise to the farmers. the filipino agricultural graduates however went out to apply for jobs like marketing executives for agribusiness products like selling fertilizers, pesticides etc. with their cars, cozy makati offices, and other perks. but at whose expense?

population explosion (hey we are now 89 million strong!!! ) is also getting a big whipping. how much is thailand? there was a time i think our population was just about the same...

but as i have said, it is not the time to be blaming anybody anymore. if all those people lying all day and feeling sorry for themselves and criticizing whatever would start picking some spade, and planting whatever, they'll be healthier, happier and too tired to think of making more babies!!!!

good morning all!

Aries, my source was the Manila Times online edition. Incidentally, today the GMA administration announced that they would stress self-sufficiency in domestic rice production. Better late than never.