Thailand regains top rice exporter crown

[webfact]

Thailand regains top rice exporter crown
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, June 4 - Thailand has regained the top spot for rice exporters after the first four months of this year, according to Thai Rice Exporters Association.

Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said that from January to May 20 of this year, Thailand exported 3.93 million tons of rice, followed by 3.74 million tons from India and 2.4 million tons from Vietnam.

He also said that Thailand had suffered from low rice prices of about US$390 per ton on average.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the association, predicted that Thailand can retain its top rice export crown throughout this year because Thai rice prices were lower than that of competitors like India and Vietnam that sell their rice at US$420-430 and about US$400 per ton respectively.

The highly demand of rice in China and severe weather experienced worldwide have contributed to the increase of Thai rice export, he said.

He commented that the price of Thai rice could rise by only US$10-20 per ton this year because of its huge stock of nearly 10 million tons.

The United States Department of Agriculture forecasts that the volume of global rice trade will amount to 40.79 million tons of paddy this year and rise by 4.64% year-on-year.

It predicted that Thailand will be the second biggest rice exporter selling 9 million tons, trailing India which should export around 10 million tons. Vietnam will export 6.5 million tons of rice this year.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association also estimates the Thai rice export will total 9 million tons worth US$4.75 billion or Bt150 billion.

China continues to be the biggest importer of rice, with the volume of 3.2-5 million tons so far this year. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-06-04

[edwinchester]

Unfortunately Thailand will have to put up with lower prices until stocks are cleared as buyers are not stupid and know the Thais have a huge surplus to dispose of.

The damage done by the rice scheme is now becoming very apparent as Thai rice used to sell at a premium. Now, despite selling more than India, it will receive less money in total for that sold.

As always it will be the poor farmer that loses out.

[rreddin]

Unfortunately Thailand will have to put up with lower prices until stocks are cleared as buyers are not stupid and know the Thais have a huge surplus to dispose of.

The damage done by the rice scheme is now becoming very apparent as Thai rice used to sell at a premium. Now, despite selling more than India, it will receive less money in total for that sold.

As always it will be the poor farmer that loses out.

Buyers buy on price. If they can get the same quality from elsewhere at a lower price, that is where they will spend their money. It could be that the days of Thailand being able to charge a premium are over,

[bigbamboo]

Congratulations!

That just leaves the Miss World crown and Thailand is number one again.

Edited June 4, 2014 by bigbamboo

[UbonRatch]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

[Robby nz]

But hang on a bit, what they have and will export is all or mostly new seasons rice. Or is it ?

If what I read is correct surplus production for export over domestic consumption is more than the 9 million tons estimated to be sold.

That means that if they are selling from stockpiles then they will not be selling all the annual production so in actual fact rice still on hand at the end of a year would actually increase.

Not a bad thing if older stored rice is sold and replaced with new seasons but are buyers going to want to buy old stuff if they can get new seasons for the same price ?

Another question : Is the selling of old stock onto the market what is forcing the price down ?

If that is the case then India and Vietnam are not going to be terribly chuffed with Thailand.

In relation to that I note that Vietnam recently won a contract to supply 800k tons beating out TL with a lower price.

This in turn could force TL to lower price if they wanted to win future bids, and so on and so fifth forcing prices even lower.

The great problem being that the Govt inserted itself into the chain as the buyer and now as the seller which has stuffed up the whole system.

[terryp]

hub of clearance sales

[Misterwhisper]

Oh my goodness, I already dread to read tomorrow's newspaper headlines:

"Thailand Regains Global Rice HUB Status"

"Thailand Resumes Position as Global Rice HUB"

"Thai Exporters HUBby To Rebound As World's Top Rice Suppliers"

"Thailand Is Rice HUB Once Again!"

[ggold]

First he said

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the association, predicted that Thailand can retain its top rice export crown throughout this year because Thai rice prices were lower than that of competitors like India and Vietnam that sell their rice at US$420-430 and about US$400 per ton respectively.

Then he said

He commented that the price of Thai rice could rise by only US$10-20 per ton this year because of its huge stock of nearly 10 million tons.

Total BS of a story!

[FangFerang]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

Um, read this

Storage Conditions. The best temperature to store grains, including rice, is 40°F or below; however, rice stored at a constant 70° F with oxygen absorbers will store well for up to 10 years. In cooler storage areas rice sealed in oxygen-free containers can be stored for up to 30 years. A B.Y.U. study sampling polished rice and parboiled rice stored from 1 to 30 years found that both types of rice will keep their nutrients and flavor up to 30 years.

The question is -- how do Thais store rice stockpiles? -- are there oxygen reducers and

dehumidifiers whatsoever? If both questions are a 'no' then Thai rice could be stored for around five years with little appreciable loss of quality as long as it stays dry, and no easy trick in the humid conditions here.

As in a LOT of things...we just don't know. A very large portion of information is somewhat unavailable.

Anyone have data, instead of opinions?

[Robby nz]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

Um, read this

Storage Conditions. The best temperature to store grains, including rice, is 40°F or below; however, rice stored at a constant 70° F with oxygen absorbers will store well for up to 10 years. In cooler storage areas rice sealed in oxygen-free containers can be stored for up to 30 years. A B.Y.U. study sampling polished rice and parboiled rice stored from 1 to 30 years found that both types of rice will keep their nutrients and flavor up to 30 years.

The question is -- how do Thais store rice stockpiles? -- are there oxygen reducers and

dehumidifiers whatsoever? If both questions are a 'no' then Thai rice could be stored for around five years with little appreciable loss of quality as long as it stays dry, and no easy trick in the humid conditions here.

As in a LOT of things...we just don't know. A very large portion of information is somewhat unavailable.

Anyone have data, instead of opinions?

No doubt you saw the photos of the partly collapsed warehouse in Lopburi where there was later reported to be a fire.

There have also been fires reported at a number of other warehouses, water would have been used to put out all of these fires so not only would the rice that was actually burnt be spoiled but there would have been smoke contamination as well as moisture to add to the humidity in the warehouse.

How much was destroyed or discarded after these fires has never been revealed.

It is normal for every country to keep supplies of their staple grain to hedge against a bad season or other disaster, usually a years supply if I understand correctly.

This is stored in purpose built silos to store the grain in the best conditions, it would seem that these are rotated so they are never stored to long.

However when the pledging scheme came along these silos were already full with these supplies so the pledged rice was stored in less than ideal conditions which are prone to problems of rapid spoilage.

Just how much has been lost through poor storage and poor handling is yet to be determined.

Come in NACC.

[Kooweerup]

Rubbish. The junta are also saying in the Thai press that the world supports the coup which is crap. Never believe a single thing coming out of the mouths of the military rulers.

[JesseFrank]

Amazing how a country can regain the world top spots in almost everything, in just 13 days. Not ?

[JohnThailandJohn]

A good day for Thailand as typical means a grumpy day for ThaiVisa posters.

[dcutman]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

Um, read this

Storage Conditions. The best temperature to store grains, including rice, is 40°F or below; however, rice stored at a constant 70° F with oxygen absorbers will store well for up to 10 years. In cooler storage areas rice sealed in oxygen-free containers can be stored for up to 30 years. A B.Y.U. study sampling polished rice and parboiled rice stored from 1 to 30 years found that both types of rice will keep their nutrients and flavor up to 30 years.

The question is -- how do Thais store rice stockpiles? -- are there oxygen reducers and

dehumidifiers whatsoever? If both questions are a 'no' then Thai rice could be stored for around five years with little appreciable loss of quality as long as it stays dry, and no easy trick in the humid conditions here.

As in a LOT of things...we just don't know. A very large portion of information is somewhat unavailable.

Anyone have data, instead of opinions?

Actually the question should be. Did you ask the most stupid questions possible?

How many places and for how long are temps 40 to 70F in Thailand?

I think every knows how rices is stored here. Its either piled to to ceiling in burlap sacks(with no oxygen reducers ) or its piled to to roof in a big heap. still no oxygen reducers.

Edited June 4, 2014 by dcutman

[dcutman]

Thailand regains top rice exporter crown

It predicted that Thailand will be the second biggest rice exporter selling 9 million tons, trailing India which should export around 10 million tons. Vietnam will export 6.5 million tons of rice this year.

Not sure about the headline here.

[edwinchester]

Thailand regains top rice exporter crown

It predicted that Thailand will be the second biggest rice exporter selling 9 million tons, trailing India which should export around 10 million tons. Vietnam will export 6.5 million tons of rice this year.

Not sure about the headline here.

Top exporter for the last 4 months but because of abysmal sales last year 2nd behind India over a year is how I understand it.

[NeverSure]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

Um, read this

Storage Conditions. The best temperature to store grains, including rice, is 40°F or below; however, rice stored at a constant 70° F with oxygen absorbers will store well for up to 10 years. In cooler storage areas rice sealed in oxygen-free containers can be stored for up to 30 years. A B.Y.U. study sampling polished rice and parboiled rice stored from 1 to 30 years found that both types of rice will keep their nutrients and flavor up to 30 years.

The question is -- how do Thais store rice stockpiles? -- are there oxygen reducers and

dehumidifiers whatsoever? If both questions are a 'no' then Thai rice could be stored for around five years with little appreciable loss of quality as long as it stays dry, and no easy trick in the humid conditions here.

As in a LOT of things...we just don't know. A very large portion of information is somewhat unavailable.

Anyone have data, instead of opinions?

There is no way they can keep the rice at those temperatures, so that's out. They'd have to have refrigerated warehouses.

As for the oxygen, the only way to do that is to seal the rice in an oxygen barrier such as mylar, and with it put some oxygen absorbers in sufficient amounts to absorb all of the oxygen. Air is about 20% oxygen and absorbing in a sealed oxygen barrier will leave only inert gas so that the rice can't oxidize, nor can bugs and microorganisms survive. Under those conditions the rice will store indefinitely.

An oxygen absorber is a packet filled with finely ground iron. When placed in with the rice, the iron begins to rust which is oxidizing, using up the oxygen.

This whole process is time consuming and expensive. It is done by "survivalists" to store food that will last for decades. They do it in 5 gallon mylar bags. They put in the grain, unseal the oxygen absorbers which quickly begins to rust, drop them in and very quickly heat seal the bags while the O2 absorbers are still good. The O2 absorbers actually pull a "vacuum" on the bags because of the loss of 20% of the gas (O2) in the bag.

I can't imagine how they could do that on this large a scale.

PS Ever buy a bag of food that seemed inflated like it was pressurized? I buy potato chips and cookies that way. Just as they were sealing the bag, they were injecting carbon dioxide to expel the air as we know it, and therefore the oxygen. It allows the product to stay fresh much longer.

[northernjohn]

Well of course you're going to get the top spot if you're selling everything at a loss, and undercutting all other exporters in price because your stock is crap. There's always a PoundShop buyer!

Um, read this

Storage Conditions. The best temperature to store grains, including rice, is 40°F or below; however, rice stored at a constant 70° F with oxygen absorbers will store well for up to 10 years. In cooler storage areas rice sealed in oxygen-free containers can be stored for up to 30 years. A B.Y.U. study sampling polished rice and parboiled rice stored from 1 to 30 years found that both types of rice will keep their nutrients and flavor up to 30 years.

The question is -- how do Thais store rice stockpiles? -- are there oxygen reducers and

dehumidifiers whatsoever? If both questions are a 'no' then Thai rice could be stored for around five years with little appreciable loss of quality as long as it stays dry, and no easy trick in the humid conditions here.

As in a LOT of things...we just don't know. A very large portion of information is somewhat unavailable.

Anyone have data, instead of opinions?

Well the Ivory coast had to dump 25% of their purchase a while ago as inedible. Iran and Iraq have said they will not buy any more from Thailand.

Remains to be seen what China will do now that the pad purchases from them have been put on hold. Also the prices that these countries paid for the rice is a big secret.

I am speculating but based on that information I do not believe that all the rice is being stored with the proper climate conditions.

[marko kok prong]

Easy to do if your giving it away.

[marko kok prong]

This statement has about as much credibility as one coming from TAT,as stated they cannot store the grain in optimal conditions,the fact that other countries have had to dump this rice show's me typical Thai thinking,make a bit of money now with no thought to the future,Resturant losing customers- stick the prices up,unbeleivable shortsightedness.

[marstons]

A good day for Thailand as typical means a grumpy day for ThaiVisa posters.

Its hardly a good day when they have to sell at the lowest price to get the top spot.

[wandasloan]

Buyers buy on price. If they can get the same quality from elsewhere at a lower price, that is where they will spend their money. It could be that the days of Thailand being able to charge a premium are over,

"I can't have more tea since I haven't had any tea," said Alice.

There never was a day Thailand could charge a premium. Thailand always, including this morning, has charged what the market will bear, and the market has paid what he had to. Rice plus packing plus shipment = price.

It's simple. It's supply and demand. Thailand never could charge a premium, it could only charge what rice was worth.

Better rice of higher quality gets a higher price, imagine that. That's why Thailand grows a lot of better rice of higher quality. It also grows regular old broken rice. The better rice costs more, sometimes quite a bit more than the inferior rice. Imagine that! And if no one wants the rice, then it's worth nothing at all. And if sellers set a price too high and refuse to sell at market prices, then the rice is worth nothing at all.

All Thai rice always got, still gets and will get the price the market will bear - not a baht more or less, just like always. The only reason anyone buys Thai rice is that buyers believe and accept that its quality and availability are worth the price they are willing to pay.

.

[laurentbkk]

With 10 millions tons in stock , means they have stock for 3 years ????????????? I am totally lost in those rice figures ...... I will stick to potatoes .

[stoli]

Almost all countries of the world subsidize the farmer for his crops so that he makes some money. You simply do not, nor can you have, farmers not planting because of a possible loss on this years crop. What other business would operate if they know ahead of time it will lead to a loss for the year, unless they are subsidized. You can afford a TV maker to cut production, or even lose money one year. You can not risk your farmers giving up farming and going to work as makers of TV's.

I would suggest that Thailand build a subsidy into their budget to help the farmers, just as all countries of the world do. Not a another rice scheme on offering, and then not paying, the farmers 20% more for their product if they can then sell it for more 20% more in the world market. As we have learned these last few years, world buyers of rice will buy rice at the best price available, with a small premium for Thai rice, but very small. Certainly not 20%. An agriculture country such as Thailand needs to protect their farmers, because without them the country will certainly fail. Big time. A country runs on its food supply, which is grown by the countries hardest and least paid workers. Don't let them learn how much more they can make building cars or TV's.

Thailand is far better off being an exporter, rather than an importer, of food.

[GeorgeO]

Rubbish. The junta are also saying in the Thai press that the world supports the coup which is crap. Never believe a single thing coming out of the mouths of the military rulers.

Sad to see that there are still a lot of you sore losers out there.

In time, you will come to realise that what the military has done is for the good of the nation, and I for one look forward to the day when KhunT, the man behind all of this mess, is firmly behind bars, and all of his assets are returned to the Thai people from whom they were stolen...!!

[emilymat]

Congratulations!

That just leaves the Miss World crown and Thailand is number one again.

Expected also to make the world cup final.

[emilymat]

Rubbish. The junta are also saying in the Thai press that the world supports the coup which is crap. Never believe a single thing coming out of the mouths of the military rulers.

Sad to see that there are still a lot of you sore losers out there.

In time, you will come to realise that what the military has done is for the good of the nation, and I for one look forward to the day when KhunT, the man behind all of this mess, is firmly behind bars, and all of his assets are returned to the Thai people from whom they were stolen...!!

It's not about being a sore loser. The fact is that if we now have censorship and controlled information in news coverage some of us are entitled to be 'sceptical' about any reports from official channels.

It's now't to do with running down the Thai people.

[Chris Lawrence]

A good day for Thailand as typical means a grumpy day for ThaiVisa posters.

Made me chuckle

[gchurch259]

To tag on to Stolti; Yes, Thailand needs a price stabilization system. Not just for Rice but other Farm Products.

We recently cut and sold Mangos and got 8 THB per kilo, down from 18 to 20THB, why the reason given it is a heavy Mango Season and there is ample product. OK, so why did the price of Mangos in the Tops and Big C stay the same ? 55 to 69 THB depending on the product. Because just like the Rice Farmers experience, the middle man gets all the profit and does none of the work.

Price The Price Stabilization needs to be at the Farmer Level not the middle man.

Jerry