Thailand is forecast to produce 24 million tonnes of paddy from its main crop due to be harvested from October, up 20 percent from 20 million tonnes in the 2011/12 crop year, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Monday.Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter but is likely to lose that position this year because of inflated prices caused by a government intervention scheme.
"It is higher due to a low base effect, as around 4 million-5 million tonnes was damaged by flooding last year," Apichart Jongsakul, head of the Office of the Agriculture Economy, told Reuters, providing the first estimate of the size of the main crop.He said Thailand normally produced around 22 million to 25 million tonnes of paddy from the main crop and another 7 million to 10 million tonnes in the second crop, giving full-year production of around 29 million to 35 million.
Apichart also attributed this year's relatively high output to the government's high intervention price, which has encouraged farmers to expand plantations and grow more rice. The government is paying farmers 15,000 baht ($470) per tonne of paddy in an effort to push up the market price, which is around 9,000 baht.As a result, government rice stocks have jumped to a record high of 13.9 million tonnes of paddy, equivalent to around 8.3 million tonnes of milled rice.

Copyright Reuters, 2012

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