Thailand, the world's biggest exporter of rubber and rice, suffered flooding in the north at the weekend and could face further problems in coming weeks from monsoon rain and tropical storms, but crop damage so far seems limited, officials said on Monday.
Tropical storm Nock-Ten, which killed 41 people in the Philippines, hit northern Vietnam at the weekend and then the north and north-east of Thailand. No deaths have been reported in Thailand and flood water has already started to recede, officials said.
"Thailand is usually hit by one tropical storm a month in August and September. It's the peak season for tropical storms and usually brings heavy rains, strong wind and flooding in the north and north-east," said Somchai Baimoung, deputy chief of the Meteorological Department. Thailand's traditional rubber area is in south but the government has promoted expansion in the north-east since 2004.
The region now has around 2 million rai (320,000 hectares) of mature rubber trees that produce around 10 percent of the country's annual production of 3.2 million tonnes. More trees are maturing and that might have pushed up output this year. "Although we have expanded a lot of planting areas, I expect to see only flat production as wet weather has cut output, not only in the north-east but in the south, too," said Pongsak Kerdvongbundit, president of Thai Rubber Association.
The south, which produces around 90 percent of Thai rubber, has been hit by earlier than usual rain in Gulf of Thailand areas, cutting supply, traders said. "With that fall in supply, I don't expect prices to drop," Pongsak said, adding that $4.00 per kg would be a strong support level. Benchmark Thai smoked rubber sheet (RSS3) was offered at $4.88 per kg on Monday.
SLIGHT DAMAGE TO RICE: Flooding due to Nock-Ten could also damage some rice fields in the north-east, but a senior Agriculture Ministry official said he expected the impact to be limited. "It was flash flooding that came and went, not the sort of week-long stagnant flood water that can kill rice plants," said Prasert Gosalvitra, director-general of the Rice Department.
"We'll do a survey but I don't expect the damage to rice to be more than 1 million tonnes of paddy," he added. Thailand is forecast to produce 25 million tonne of paddy in the main crop due to be harvested in November, up from 24 million tonnes last year. The country usually grows a second crop in well-irrigated areas, producing around 7-8 million tonnes of rice annually, giving overall production of 30-33 million tonnes of paddy most years. Farmers in some areas with a plentiful supply of water can also grow an additional off-season rice crop producing 1-2 million tonnes of paddy. This crop can be difficult to measure and is not taken into account in the country's rice statistics.
Thailand is looking to export a record of more than 10 million tonnes of milled rice this year. Next year is looking highly uncertain because of the intervention policy of the incoming government which may make export prices uncompetitive.