Rough rice output from the main harvest in Thailand, the world s biggest exporter, may drop by 5.3 percent as the worst floods in five decades devastated crops, according to the Office of Agricultural Economics.
Prices will stay high because of increasing demand amid declining output from major supplies after floods destroyed rice crops in Thailand and Pakistan, Apichart Jongskul, the office s secretary-general, said today.
Thai rice prices, the benchmark for Asia, surged to a nine- month high of $567 a metric ton on Dec. 2, boosted by year-end demand. The price was quoted at $565 on Dec. 22, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
Output from the main harvest, started in October, is estimated to be 22 million tons after about 1.3 million tons of paddy rice was damaged by floods, said Apichart. That compares with 23.25 million tons last year.
The second-crop, which begins in April, may rise by 3.3 percent to 9.2 million tons, Apichart said. Thailand s total harvest for 2010-2011 may be 31.2 million tons, a decline of 3 percent, he said.
The flooding across two-thirds of Thailand damaged 11.1 million rai (4.39 million acres) of agricultural land, equivalent to 8.4 percent of the total, the office said in a statement today. The deluge may slash the country s economic growth by 0.3 percentage point this year to 7.9 percent, state planning agency the National Economic and Social Development Board said on Nov. 22.
A La Nina weather event has brought heavier-than-usual rainfall to parts of Asia this year, deluging farms and mines in Southeast Asia, driving rubber futures and tin prices to record.
