Current Rice Price Where You Are

[Gary A]

The paddy price for horm mali has dropped quickly from 15 baht per kilo to about 9 baht. There is a shortage of farm labor but I suspect many jobs will be lost in the industrial and tourist areas when the elite appoint the new government. Farming people will be forced to return to the farms but if the crop prices continue to drop, there will be very little work for them here too. The rich will get richer on the backs of the poor people.

[Foreverford]

Additionally: A friend nearby bagged 2.5 Rai last week. Achieved 42 bags @ 41 Kg ea. At 688Kg per Rai which is double our yield. His crop was seedling transplant ("dum nar"). Whilst I would have expected a 50% improvement with his planting method --- I am really impressed with his 100% increase!

Due to weather his rice was sold wet @ 9Bt. per kilo.

In Prakon Chai Buri Ram Hom Mali went for 10.50 a kilo a week ago now at another mill they are paying 13.40 today. This way above what it should be and would be surprised if the price can stay there but the Ag bank came to the families village and said they were looking at paying 15 baht and you would have to store the rice for them???? I really didn't get the entire story straight becasuw of the phone conversation but this is above the 14 pricwe they were talking about before. I told the wife to sell all she could as the price is going to probably go way down and she said they weren't buying yet so it appears to be typical yap so far.

I incorrectly wrote 13.40 baht but it was 12.40 some got 12.70 because it was a higher grade(???). I told them to sell every ounce but of course they know better and said they were going to wait well they had to sell some more and that only brought 11.00 baht for Hom Mali. If you think the price is going to go up to 15 just get in touch with me and I'll start bringing ten of tons to your doorstep for just 13.95 and even with a smile. These prices are buriRam I'll be in and around there and Surin for many weeks in a couple days and I'll get the exact scoop and try to help folks decide what they might want to try. choke Dee

[Foreverford]

Additionally: A friend nearby bagged 2.5 Rai last week. Achieved 42 bags @ 41 Kg ea. At 688Kg per Rai which is double our yield. His crop was seedling transplant ("dum nar"). Whilst I would have expected a 50% improvement with his planting method --- I am really impressed with his 100% increase!

Due to weather his rice was sold wet @ 9Bt. per kilo.

In Prakon Chai Buri Ram Hom Mali went for 10.50 a kilo a week ago now at another mill they are paying 13.40 today. This way above what it should be and would be surprised if the price can stay there but the Ag bank came to the families village and said they were looking at paying 15 baht and you would have to store the rice for them???? I really didn't get the entire story straight becasuw of the phone conversation but this is above the 14 pricwe they were talking about before. I told the wife to sell all she could as the price is going to probably go way down and she said they weren't buying yet so it appears to be typical yap so far.

I incorrectly wrote 13.40 baht but it was 12.40 some got 12.70 because it was a higher grade(???). I told them to sell every ounce but of course they know better and said they were going to wait well they had to sell some more and that only brought 11.00 baht for Hom Mali. If you think the price is going to go up to 15 just get in touch with me and I'll start bringing ten of tons to your doorstep for just 13.95 and even with a smile. These prices are buriRam I'll be in and around there and Surin for many weeks in a couple days and I'll get the exact scoop and try to help folks decide what they might want to try. choke Dee

Prakon Chai (Buri Ram) is buying at 8 to 12 baht depending on quality yesterday.

[chokchai4]

14.50BHT per kilo homali in Ratthanaburi ( SURIN ) today . last week arround 12.50-13.50 per kilo

[Foreverford]

14.50BHT per kilo homali in Ratthanaburi ( SURIN ) today . last week arround 12.50-13.50 per kilo

Wow!!!!!!!! Any updates on this it is still 11 baht in Prachon Chai. Please update us as the drive would be well worth it for us. Almost to good to be true. Definitely any further updates will be gratefully appreciated.

[jay-uk]

What's the latest prices on rice locally and what are the profits based on the following examples taken from this thread:

<350 Kgs per Rai

@ SP <14 baht per Kg

4,900 baht per rai saleable rice

would you see a margin of upto 50% after fertilizer and labour costs etc..?

leaving <2,450 baht profit per rai. Is this about accurate or are there other costs and factors to consider.

Jay

[Mali1964]

You do not mention how many Rai you have but if its the typical Thai average 5 to 10 Rai then treat it more as a hobby than a way of making a living its good fun i must say.

If your talkin 50 Rai plus then maybe I say Maybe you have a chance of making some money but you need to educate yourself fast as there's a lot to it & it tends to have to be done the Thai way, i've read up so much on the net but when i give my advise from my findings all i get is farmer tried that no work, their very much set in their ways so if its a livin you want from this make sure its 2 harvest's a year minimum (mainly Western Thailand) & at least 50 Rai +.

Had a few Leo's lol so if ya wana chat PM me 2moz i'll give ya more info.

Shaun.

[Mali1964]

As I forgot to add my price yield etc to this thread I thought I would add a copy of my PM I made today for those who are interested.

(??) rai after a few years can make some money especially if the price of rice stays high, is it Home Mali rice or the sticky rice? There's more money in Mali rice,in Issarn.

For two Harvest's a year your area will have to be close to a river & have the government built irrigation canals running all around the paddy's that the farmer taps into for is water supply,no rain after November till around April/May.

You can drill a boar hole for well water which i believe is very expensive & the costs of energy to pump the water up would tear up any profits from what i've read, Maizefarmer is the guy for the boreholes & pump technical jargon there's a pinned topic on the Farming home page take a look, its not that common in Issan for there to be irrigation, my home province does,nt have any for example.

As an idea for 5 rai this year we netted around 6000 baht & that's it for the year the land just sits there waiting for songran time when people start to plant again.

Our yield was average 450 KG per rai we got around 12 baht but we kept some for our selves so gross was around 27,000 baht most gets taken up with labour costs & fertilizer,getting 800/1000KG Yield would be the dream but needs a lot of knowledge & investment to even dream of getting those yields every year.

Instead we do contract Harvesting about 1000 rai per Harvest we currently do 2 per year

Here's one post i did there are more regarding Harvesters.

Take Care Shaun

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Kubota-Dc-60...rs-t236486.html

[Foreverford]

Just back from the farm and the father in Law is telling me that wet rice is being bought for about 9,000 baht which is a far cry from the figures that are being banded about on the television..

Is this figure the same everywhere?

I would appreciate some feedback from country wide...

Brother-in-law in Prachon Chai last week got 14.50!!!!!! whoopeeee

[jay-uk]

There is a lot of useful information here on Gross sales prices and Kgs/Rai but has anyone calculated net profits after labour, fertilizer and other costs. I'm interested to know in percentage terms what margin is profit there is on growing rice. If not calculated then estimates if 20, 30, 40 50 % etc.. profit. Thanks.

[Mali1964]

There is a lot of useful information here on Gross sales prices and Kgs/Rai but has anyone calculated net profits after labour, fertilizer and other costs. I'm interested to know in percentage terms what margin is profit there is on growing rice. If not calculated then estimates if 20, 30, 40 50 % etc.. profit. Thanks.

From my post a couple up from you.

As an idea for 5 rai this year we netted around 6000 baht & that's it for the year the land just sits there waiting for songran time when people start to plant again.

Our yield was average 450 KG per rai we got around 12 baht but we kept some for our selves so gross was around 27,000 baht most gets taken up with labour costs & fertilizer,getting 800/1000KG Yield would be the dream but needs a lot of knowledge & investment to even dream of getting those yields every year.

[jay-uk]

There is a lot of useful information here on Gross sales prices and Kgs/Rai but has anyone calculated net profits after labour, fertilizer and other costs. I'm interested to know in percentage terms what margin is profit there is on growing rice. If not calculated then estimates if 20, 30, 40 50 % etc.. profit. Thanks.

From my post a couple up from you.

As an idea for 5 rai this year we netted around 6000 baht & that's it for the year the land just sits there waiting for songran time when people start to plant again.

Our yield was average 450 KG per rai we got around 12 baht but we kept some for our selves so gross was around 27,000 baht most gets taken up with labour costs & fertilizer,getting 800/1000KG Yield would be the dream but needs a lot of knowledge & investment to even dream of getting those yields every year.

So it looks to be around 22% net profit (ie.. 6,000 baht profit on 27,000 saleable rice) after all expenses taken. I can see why you need a large piece of land to make this viable for a farang to use as a second income stream:

5 rai = 6,000 baht profit per year

50 rai = 60,000 baht profit per year

100 rai = 120,000 baht profit per year etc...etc..

maybe better than leaving money in a bank as you have land price appreciation long range (not short term) plus revenue from rice.

Jay

[Mali1964]

There is a lot of useful information here on Gross sales prices and Kgs/Rai but has anyone calculated net profits after labour, fertilizer and other costs. I'm interested to know in percentage terms what margin is profit there is on growing rice. If not calculated then estimates if 20, 30, 40 50 % etc.. profit. Thanks.

From my post a couple up from you.

As an idea for 5 rai this year we netted around 6000 baht & that's it for the year the land just sits there waiting for songran time when people start to plant again.

Our yield was average 450 KG per rai we got around 12 baht but we kept some for our selves so gross was around 27,000 baht most gets taken up with labour costs & fertilizer,getting 800/1000KG Yield would be the dream but needs a lot of knowledge & investment to even dream of getting those yields every year.

So it looks to be around 22% net profit (ie.. 6,000 baht profit on 27,000 saleable rice) after all expenses taken. I can see why you need a large piece of land to make this viable for a farang to use as a second income stream:

5 rai = 6,000 baht profit per year

50 rai = 60,000 baht profit per year

100 rai = 120,000 baht profit per year etc...etc..

maybe better than leaving money in a bank as you have land price appreciation long range (not short term) plus revenue from rice.

Jay

Bear in mind the Weather/pests, insects etc lots of Farmers lost there entire crop this year. They were under 1 meter of flood water plus the winds can damage the crop,mother inlaw lost the lot to Flood & she's only 5 KM's from our land so try to check if the land is more prone for flooding etc before you buy.

We had Rats eating a small amount of ours for instance, the family sorted that one out they ate um

There's a lot to it mate but seems people have made a small living off larger lands/yields.

[THAIPHUKET]

6000 net seems to be a bit high, read the average is 2000-4000 depending on many factors.

Plus one needs to include a yard stick=

how much investment , 40-70.000 b per rai brings net profit of X ?

The yard stick is how much the same amount of money should earn in the bank, at 2 or 3 % or whatever long term yield is a reasonable assumption.

Plus no weather factor, very liquiid ,, no work, no headache

[Mali1964]

6000 net seems to be a bit high, read the average is 2000-4000 depending on many factors.

Plus one needs to include a yard stick=

how much investment , 40-70.000 b per rai brings net profit of X ?

The yard stick is how much the same amount of money should earn in the bank, at 2 or 3 % or whatever long term yield is a reasonable assumption.

Plus no weather factor, very liquiid ,, no work, no headache

Yes maybe so, that's why i gave other options to invest in, personally i would not invest in large scale rice production but i enjoy getting involved & learning something new, not working is not good for you tried it get board very quickly,i would add a thought that when small scale cheap land becomes available we do consider buying if its in a good spot as a long term family investment not to profit from the rice, as long as it breaks even & puts some food on the table we are happy if we get a good yield then great.

The 6000 baht we made this year is correct, but we may only make half that next year, to many uncertainty's when you factor in the weather & pests.

But relying on money in the bank in this day an age never heard of banks going bust its happened & I'm sure there's many more to follow,stick it under your mattress like my grandma does its safer there

[THAIPHUKET]

Than we are on the same wave length, it's not the money yield that matters........that much.

It's more the personal "satisfaction yield".

[Foreverford]

There is a lot of useful information here on Gross sales prices and Kgs/Rai but has anyone calculated net profits after labour, fertilizer and other costs. I'm interested to know in percentage terms what margin is profit there is on growing rice. If not calculated then estimates if 20, 30, 40 50 % etc.. profit. Thanks.

We had a little over 80 rai averaged a little over 450kg got 22 tons lost 1/4 million baht and didn't figure depreciation or about three or four of the family's labor during the year. The one plot that is going organic (though chem ferts were used by father-in-law) wasn't planted traditionally and all the levees were removed and we got 500 + per rai even though it was under 5 feet of water twice. That 18 rai made somewhere near 50- 60 thousand baht so just over a couple thousand each rai as i see it. Lot's of rain hurt but as I see it this is the way it has been for the last 6 years but finally a sister returned and kept good books so I could show them what is happening. I'd never be growing rice here (Buri Ram near Cambodia and Surin) if it weren't for the fact that it is Hom mali (world's best rice) and the fact that we will be converting them to organic (slowly but surely as Thais are very sceptical of anything new plus it can be expensive to get going) it just doesn't add up to being profitable endeavor to grow traditonal rice the traditional ways.

[jay-uk]

Sounds like growing rice is not very forgiving and people operating on a small margin can see profits dissapear with weather, fertilizer costs and/or labour if needing more people than expected to help out. So what is the land appreciation like locally. Are the land value increases enough to justify ownership if you are using the land to grow crops purely for living?

[Mali1964]

Thought I'd post this here than start a new Topic.

Anyone like me who as never seen the final stage of the Rice producing process can learn here, yesterday I went with some of our Hom Mali Rice to see a friends Small Milling Machine in action had a great morning drinking & eating Issarn style.

As an idea it took about 2 hours to Mill 200/220 KG of Unmilled Rice into a little over 100 KG ready to cook Rice,so its around a 50% loss in Hulls etc.

Very glad to have witnessed the process though, I have added a small video to my U Tube for those interested in Understanding the process a little better.

Enjoy Shaun & Mali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rle5jBjET5A

[Isee]

Thanks mali, always wanted to watch how they did it in the GF's village, but the guy was never working...but seemed to be working when I wasn't around. Maybe he was worried about me learning how its done and setup a similar mill across the soi from him??? Not a bad operation when you think about it, keep the husks for cow bedding, keep the bran for your livestock etc AND still get paid to mill the rice. His runs off its own motor.

Cheers

[Mali1964]

Thanks mali, always wanted to watch how they did it in the GF's village, but the guy was never working...but seemed to be working when I wasn't around. Maybe he was worried about me learning how its done and setup a similar mill across the soi from him??? Not a bad operation when you think about it, keep the husks for cow bedding, keep the bran for your livestock etc AND still get paid to mill the rice. His runs off its own motor.

Cheers

Hi Isee, Yes i had the same problem with dirty looks etc with the 2 around the corner from me so i never bothered looking,this Guy used to drive one of our Tractors so he's become a friend he's 10 Kilo's down the road but well worth the visit insidently they do not charge for their service they have the Husts & bran as you say & this they sell,also they may take 1 or 2 kg of the finished artical lol but all this was given back 100%, but he was well loaded with 2 large Whiskey cow

But he also feed us from the Chicken the brother in law killed by messing around with a sling shot lol.

The Steel Buffalo he says is cheaper than the electric with gas at 20 Baht a ltr also the Motor as blown his meter thats a 700 baht replacement if i remember right to have it replaced, he needs a 15 amp meter i think, the motor would make it a lot more peaceful for him though the noise from the 114 bhp Kubota was deafing after an hour or so, real sweet old boy though.

Happy you took a look cheers Shaun

[Isee]

insidently they do not charge for their service they have the Husts & bran as you say & this they sell,also they may take 1 or 2 kg of the finished artical

Yes quite right, paid in rice not in baht.

[slapout]

There are several portable mills advertised as well as a overview of those used in Thailand on google. Some of the latter are home made, others purchased and probably a combo of the two. I am surprised at the lose noted above during the milling process as most of the commercial type are advertised at a 10 to 15% lose depending on moisture content.

[Mali1964]

There are several portable mills advertised as well as a overview of those used in Thailand on google. Some of the latter are home made, others purchased and probably a combo of the two. I am surprised at the lose noted above during the milling process as most of the commercial type are advertised at a 10 to 15% lose depending on moisture content.

I too was shocked a couple of month's back when a local guy took around 70kg of the rice we had saved for ourselves I was very surprised to see less than half returned but was told this is normal in the milling process, not sure how much he took for himself but after seeing it in action I think 2/3kg or 5%.

As far as commercial milling goes I would hazard a guess that its more efficient than these small machine but no where near the 15% you say you see advertised as the hull's havs to be around 25/30% of the product surely?? The only other rice I saw that was ground to a pulp going into another store (that's on the video) was around 5/6% it looked & smelt like baby milk powder,lovely aroma reminded me of when my 2 where baby's lol.

Maybe some one can confirm this 50%-- 15% loss compared to commercial milling, as I think if this were the case then no one would keep the rice & mill it in this way if it was that inefficient.

[slapout]

I did some searching and found that the mills in Vietnam (commercial) have a loss of about 30% with somewhat better results if moisture content is 14 to 15 %. The 50% + just does not seem to equate when the price being quoted by some of the farmers is 14 baht/kilo and I see Jasmine rice priced at 28 baht/kilo here in CM (retail). Maybe the advertisements I saw for setups are typical buyer beware. The Vietnam figures do seem a reasonable loss and they were not trying to sale a system.

[Mali1964]

I did some searching and found that the mills in Vietnam (commercial) have a loss of about 30% with somewhat better results if moisture content is 14 to 15 %. The 50% + just does not seem to equate when the price being quoted by some of the farmers is 14 baht/kilo and I see Jasmine rice priced at 28 baht/kilo here in CM (retail). Maybe the advertisements I saw for setups are typical buyer beware. The Vietnam figures do seem a reasonable loss and they were not trying to sale a system.

Hi Slapout, Remember they do sell on or have a use for the Husk's, I've never looked into what they do with it or how much they receive, but some I believe is used as Animal feed I would love to know more on this if anyone knows.

Edited February 19, 2009 by Mali1964

[Foreverford]

I did some searching and found that the mills in Vietnam (commercial) have a loss of about 30% with somewhat better results if moisture content is 14 to 15 %. The 50% + just does not seem to equate when the price being quoted by some of the farmers is 14 baht/kilo and I see Jasmine rice priced at 28 baht/kilo here in CM (retail). Maybe the advertisements I saw for setups are typical buyer beware. The Vietnam figures do seem a reasonable loss and they were not trying to sale a system.

Hi Slapout, Remember they do sell on or have a use for the Husk's, I've never looked into what they do with it or how much they receive, but some I believe is used as Animal feed I would love to know more on this if anyone knows.

Go to Prakon Chai in Buri Ram and go towards Surin on highway 24 about 2 or 3 kilometers. On your left you will see a 1/2 a billion baht (?) investment that has been made in a Bio-Energy plant. And you've guessed it they are poweering it on rice husks. One of my ex's fater-in-law had added it to his rather large organic truck farm which was about 2-3 feet higher than the existing groundlevel due to the enormous amount of husks he used over many years. His purple onions were the sweetest you have ever tasted his tomatoes would break the vines if not pick they were in such abundance and I could go on and on, like an over 100 pound watermelon (I've got the photos). Anywho and how it's dam_n good stuff and there is plenty of use for it if you can get your hands on it. He was in the Sacramento Valley of California a huge rice growing area. chike Dee hope this helped.

[ozzydom]

I did some searching and found that the mills in Vietnam (commercial) have a loss of about 30% with somewhat better results if moisture content is 14 to 15 %. The 50% + just does not seem to equate when the price being quoted by some of the farmers is 14 baht/kilo and I see Jasmine rice priced at 28 baht/kilo here in CM (retail). Maybe the advertisements I saw for setups are typical buyer beware. The Vietnam figures do seem a reasonable loss and they were not trying to sale a system.

Hi Slapout, Remember they do sell on or have a use for the Husk's, I've never looked into what they do with it or how much they receive, but some I believe is used as Animal feed I would love to know more on this if anyone knows.

The husks are used for mixing into clay soils in market gardens as well as cattle bedding and fuel for firing clay bricks, the ram (pollard) as stock and fish food and the broken rice as poultry food .

Husks sell for 5 baht a bag , ram goes for 5 baht per kg , and broken rice 7 baht per kg, Our supplier works on approx 55-60 % recovery on 15% moisture content rice.

The miller retains all side products as payment for milling.

[anthoma]

We (I) bought a small rice-mill 3 years ago. Payed about 200 000 bath for it. It was delivered with an electric engine, but we could not use because the power in the line was not strong enough so we had to change to diesel.

I tried to put 100 kg with paddyrice into the machine and here is what we got out:

50,8 kg rice, 4,2 kg broken rice, 27 kg with ram and the rest was husk.

We sell the ram for 5 bath pr kilo for animalfeed and the broken rice for 7 baht pr kilo. And we do as all the other small mills in the district, we "steel" 1/2-1 kilo of rice from every sack before we return to the farmer. This is a secret, but i think everybody knows this. To only keep the ram and broken rice will almost not cover the cost of diesel so the profit is the rice we "steel" from every sack.

[Mali1964]

We (I) bought a small rice-mill 3 years ago. Payed about 200 000 bath for it. It was delivered with an electric engine, but we could not use because the power in the line was not strong enough so we had to change to diesel.

I tried to put 100 kg with paddyrice into the machine and here is what we got out:

50,8 kg rice, 4,2 kg broken rice, 27 kg with ram and the rest was husk.

We sell the ram for 5 bath pr kilo for animalfeed and the broken rice for 7 baht pr kilo. And we do as all the other small mills in the district, we "steel" 1/2-1 kilo of rice from every sack before we return to the farmer. This is a secret, but i think everybody knows this. To only keep the ram and broken rice will almost not cover the cost of diesel so the profit is the rice we "steel" from every sack.

Mornin anthoma.

What is Ram? I take it this is the fine powder that comes out of the side of machine, I never thought there was that much from this machine I saw but your post is very interesting many Thanks.

Shaun.