rice field

Post by **miked** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:02 pm

tricky one this,
my mother in law farms about 30 rai of rice land in korat. due to floods she has lost about 20 rai of rice. she never asks me for anything but she cannot manage without this money. i want to compensate her for this loss.
what i'm trying to find out is on an average crop what is 20 rai of rice worth.?? if i ask her direct she will not tell me.
miked

Post by **Sabai Jai** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:59 pm

Tricky one indead!

Yields per rai have increased in recent years.

I think an average now is 450 to 500 kilos per Rai for proffesional rice production - but depends on what they are growing, how, the land type etc etc.

Rice prices have been High but are starting to fall back now.

Good export quality Hom Malee can be 3-4 times the price of low grade rice and sticky rice and peaked at $1000 per metric ton last year but would probably be 25% down on that now - but these are Bangkok Rice market prices what the farmer gets I'm afraid i don't know but you can bet it's less than this.

Sounds like quite a lot of money - check my figures I could be wrong

Any members up in Issaan know what the going rate for rice is??

Regards Sabai Jai

Post by **bluezephyr** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:43 pm

When i was up in Kampaeng phet we had a discussion about rice and cane prices per Rai.
Unfortunately i dont remember but i found this to help you.

http://www.pechsiam.com/allabout_staplegrain.htm

http://www.foodmarketexchange.com/datac ... _grain.php

Not being funny, Doesnt rice grow in water? Paddy field, Im not sayin youre being given a sick buffalo story or owt though, Just ive heard enough stories about farang hubbies being taken for a mug. Ive been there, Just i wasnt married!

Post by **caller** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:02 am

The price the farmers get, for the rice they sell, rather than eat, is set by the dealers/Govt and they gain no profit from the increased prices. And even is more was offered, it would be offset by the increased cost of fertiliser etc.

My wifes families farm has been underwater and if it doesn't dry sufficiently to allow a harvester to be used, they will pay the locals in the village to scythe the rice.

An added cost may be the hire of a small boat to harvest the rice from!!!

Maybe of interest from here in the UK is that the brand of rice we buy - 10kilo at a time, reached a high of 14.75 but has now dropped back to 12.25 - earlier this evening (petrol now less than a pound a litre)!

Post by **sandman67** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:31 am

good on you mate for caring and yes flooding screws rice crops....it doesnt grow in water it grows in controlled paddies........flooding buggers it right up and theres been floods in the N and NE.....Mrs S's family are in a similar pickle. Basically if it goes near he "ear" its screwed...rots on the stalk.

suggest you get a Thai to check the prices via a rice buyer.....easy enough. Then you calculate probable yield against hand or machine sown.

Post by **miked** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:46 am

thanks for all your help with this, now have a good idea what to pay. don't think she will be happy about taking the money. i treat her like my own mum and she like i'm her son.
when i got married i gave her the dowry, cash no gold. after the wedding she gave 90% back to my wife saying we needed it more than her.!!! mind you with the baht/pound rate i think she is probably spot on.
in and around the korat area flooding seems to be an increasing problem and i wonder is this to do with global warming??
thanks again for all your help.
miked

Post by **caller** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:43 am

I'm not sure it is? More like screwing the locals by seeking profits via crops/trees that have an impact on the ecology. Money comes first and those that get in the way, don't, so to speak!

Post by **Guess** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:22 am

sandman67 wrote:............... yes flooding screws rice crops....it doesnt grow in water it grows in controlled paddies.......................

Exactly, it also grows in dry fields nowadays. Everything has been answered her except the actual prices itself. As caller says it is controlled by the government if it is for national distribution or export. My little experience with rice was in Petchaburi where the grade was completely different from other parts of Thailand.

Yields and grades have a significant effect on the market price but my understanding of the government control is to keep those issues away from the farmer so that a common rate is paid all over the country.

It may well be worth trawling the internet with searches. The Bank of Thailand have an English language section and they have quoted commodities in past.

Have a look at this site in English written by a Thai expert:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6905e/x6905e0d.htm

It states average yields at about 2.25 tonnes per hectare which works out at about 360 Kg per rai.

So the worse case loss for a medium grade rice would be 7200 Baht per year per rai and that's at wholesale prices. Much of Isan is low grade and low yield so it may be as little as 2400 Baht per rai.

BTW. I have calculated 6.25 rai = 1 hectare which I think is correct and the low grade rice price at my local wholesaler of 20 Baht per Kg. A very simplistic calculation but a ball park and worst case figure at least.

Post by **STEVE G** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:32 pm

I'm in Issan at the moment not so far from Khorat, and after asking the locals in the village, apparently around here you would hope to get about 500 kg of unhusked paddy rice a rai, which is worth 12 bt a kilo.
But to get that you might be paying 150 bt a day for people to cut it and about 5 percent by weight for threshing.

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:58 pm

My GFs family have lost upto 70% of their crops because of flooding.
The poor sods who are really relying on it must be struggling this year.

Spitfire · Post by **Spitfire** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:11 pm

STEVE G is about right here I think, you can get anything up to about 600kg(average is probably 300-400) a rai depending on how deep the paddy is, how good the land is, conditions(weather/fertilizer use etc). It is also worth mentioning that there is a price differential between 'sticky' rice and 'normal' rice. The price often fluctuates depending upon what time of year you are selling it, certainly at the government collection centers. At the moment you will probably get more for it, however, at christmas, the price may be lower as it(rice) will be in abundence everywhere.

Have driven past said collection centers recently and they are about 12 Baht as mentioned.

Arcadian · Post by **Arcadian** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:13 pm

Log onto the search engine, ask.com, and type in , price of rice in thailand, all sorts of information will come up.

Post by **Cowtown Comedy** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:20 pm

I thought i would add some humor to this thread. You should have seen the look on the rice merchant's face when a farang pulled up onto the scales with a 1000 kgs.

I don't speak Issan, so luckily "Pa" was only a few minutes behind me with another load and he was able explain why the only farang in Ubon province was driving a rice truck.

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