High Rice Price

[nellyp]

Hi, I have been informed that if i can irrigate, then I should be able to grow most crops when I want to. If this is correct when would be the best time of year to harvest a rice crop to maximise the price I could get for it? Also I suppose I will have to grow rice in the rainy season in the Surin/sisaket, but what do think is the crop that gives the highest profit that could be grown as a second/third crop? Taking into account ease of selling either by the family or to a merchant

[IsaanAussie]

Yes there is only a small window for planting rice in my area Sisaket. The harvest is set by when the rice has reached its peak, earlier the yield is down and the drier it gets still in the paddy the more broken rice you will get, hence lowering the price. The correct question should be when do you sell it, that you can control.

Answers on other crops are abundant of the thread. My point of view is I am better off growing things I can add value to or utilise as feed. I don't have the capacity to fill a transport with enough to deal with the major merchants in Bangkok and the local markets and merchants are virtually a lockdown. You really "have no choice" their way or the highway. Good luck with that one, I have a feeling that will be harder to realise than you think.

IA

[nellyp]

Yes there is only a small window for planting rice in my area Sisaket. The harvest is set by when the rice has reached its peak, earlier the yield is down and the drier it gets still in the paddy the more broken rice you will get, hence lowering the price. The correct question should be when do you sell it, that you can control.

Answers on other crops are abundant of the thread. My point of view is I am better off growing things I can add value to or utilise as feed. I don't have the capacity to fill a transport with enough to deal with the major merchants in Bangkok and the local markets and merchants are virtually a lockdown. You really "have no choice" their way or the highway. Good luck with that one, I have a feeling that will be harder to realise than you think.

IA

Cheers for this. it is actually quite intereting. So if I hang on to the rice till the price goes up i can make more profit?? How would I keep a check on when best to sell, and how long could I keep the rice? Also would i be better off buying rice off others willing to sell when the price is low, storing the rice and selling when the price is high, rather than investing in land myself when cash is spare?? and any idea of the proit i could make if I did this. I am thinking I would need to invest a lot of money into doing this though as the mark up would be small

[IsaanAussie]

Nellyp,

I am no rice merchant, nor do I have either the storage for or funds to buy rice. So maybe someone else can supply those answers to you. For me at the moment, it's sold as soon as it's in the bags.

I do know of a farang near me who funds rice crops in the same way as the Thai's do, he has storage facilities apparently as well. I have no idea how he trades the rice. The system is the funds are borrowed at a monthly interest rate of around 3% for seed and fertiliser purchases. The funds are returned with interest and a portion of the crop. Sounds attractive but I believe one look at the "debt collectors" who don't look like accountants to me, will tell you that recovery is not all that easy at times.

I find most people around here tend to sell what they need to immediately after harvest, to clear existing debts and keep the rest. This is either consumed, kept as seed or sold to cover other costs. A village based co-operative would be possible I suppose.

IA

[Foreverford]

Yes there is only a small window for planting rice in my area Sisaket. The harvest is set by when the rice has reached its peak, earlier the yield is down and the drier it gets still in the paddy the more broken rice you will get, hence lowering the price. The correct question should be when do you sell it, that you can control.

Answers on other crops are abundant of the thread. My point of view is I am better off growing things I can add value to or utilise as feed. I don't have the capacity to fill a transport with enough to deal with the major merchants in Bangkok and the local markets and merchants are virtually a lockdown. You really "have no choice" their way or the highway. Good luck with that one, I have a feeling that will be harder to realise than you think.

IA

Cheers for this. it is actually quite intereting. So if I hang on to the rice till the price goes up i can make more profit?? How would I keep a check on when best to sell, and how long could I keep the rice? Also would i be better off buying rice off others willing to sell when the price is low, storing the rice and selling when the price is high, rather than investing in land myself when cash is spare?? and any idea of the proit i could make if I did this. I am thinking I would need to invest a lot of money into doing this though as the mark up would be small

Many people try to do what you are doing but as you are gambling you can take a big loss in more ways than one. You can find rice prices on a topic I have started and will see that the price of rice dropped nearly 25% in the last few months so if you had invested a lot of money you would have made a huge loss. Our first harvest of 29 tons netted us a 1/4 million baht loss. It is a tough game and you sound as if you haven't done a lot of research yet. try to read as many posts as you can and then come back with other questions and try to give some hard facts (how much land what kind of water and application systems) and we'll try to put you on the right path to some kind of sustainable agricultural practice that hopefully will make you a bit of profit. being a rice trader is similar to the stock market except a ton more work and risks in so many ways. If you have land get some manure on it and plant cover crops so that when you decide what you are going to grow you will have improved soil and your yields will be much improved. I believe Pah Teung (sun Hemp) is one of the best cover crops you can plant in Thailand