Early and abundant monsoon rains are expected to boost Asia's rice crop to 452 million tons this year, up 1.5 per cent from 2012, the United Nations predicted Thursday. "If weather conditions hold, India together with mainland China are forecast to lead the region's growth, but virtually all countries in the region are heading towards larger crops," said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its latest Rice Market Monitor.
The FAO predicted that global trade in rice this year would decline by 2.5 percent to 37.5 million tons, with prices on a downward trend. "The tendency for prices to fall has been particularly pronounced in Thailand, where uncertainties over the paddy pledging program compounded the downward pressure exerted by weak external demand and a depreciating baht," the FAO said.
Thailand has been offering farmers fixed prices for their paddy, or unhusked rice, since October 2011, as part of the current government's populist platform. The scheme resulted in accumulated losses worth an estimated 137 billion baht (4.4 billion dollars) in the 2011/12 season, and a huge stockpile this year of about 17 million tons of rice in government-financed warehouses.
Comments
Comments are closed.