Thai Govt's Rice-Pledging 'will Change'

[AleG]

If I remember correctly the WB talked about a loss of THB 80 - 100 billion over the 2011-2012 period and an expectation of 120++ over 2012-1013. As far as I know that doesn't include loss due to stock molding or fading away, or even just disappearing.

Peanuts of course, or more in line with the topic, like rice grains dripping through your fingers

Spot on! Those loss figures are storage and trading losses. On some idiots account sheet, all that rice is going to be a capital item valued at what they paid for it, because nobody wants to admit that it is depreciating.

Still to come is the capital loss, plus the cost of disposal of worthless rotten rice. What do you do with millions of tons of rotten rice?

Also not included, I suppose, are the mythical Government to Government deals, which if they exist at all I'm sure would be made at a loss or else they wouldn't be so hidden from the public.

[Pimay1]

If I remember correctly the WB talked about a loss of THB 80 - 100 billion over the 2011-2012 period and an expectation of 120++ over 2012-1013. As far as I know that doesn't include loss due to stock molding or fading away, or even just disappearing.

Peanuts of course, or more in line with the topic, like rice grains dripping through your fingers

Spot on! Those loss figures are storage and trading losses. On some idiots account sheet, all that rice is going to be a capital item valued at what they paid for it, because nobody wants to admit that it is depreciating.

Still to come is the capital loss, plus the cost of disposal of worthless rotten rice. What do you do with millions of tons of rotten rice?

Also not included, I suppose, are the mythical Government to Government deals, which if they exist at all I'm sure would be made at a loss or else they wouldn't be so hidden from the public.

I for one believe they are lying through their teeth about the G to G contracts. The rice exporters reported that no rice had been exported.

[Ricardo]

At the time the government-to-government deals were announced, several months ago IIRC, they were all for shipment the following year, ie what is now this year, it remains to be seen whether the shipments will be made.

So the deals announced at that time were just putting a positive spin on future-contracts, as though they might solve the problem last year, which they didn't as-evidenced by the growing-stocks currently held in the enlarged-warehouses.

[Ian Curtis]

What worries me is that the rice farmer has been trying to produce more on the same land in an attempt to increase his income. In so doing he is forced to use an ever increasing amount of chemicals (quite a few of the chemicals being used here are banned elsewhere) to increase his yield. In so doing would this not lead to some countries rejecting on the basis of chemical content?