Floods could take a toll on Thailand’s rice industry

Floods could take a toll on Thailand’s rice industry. The honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, Chookiat Ophaswongse, says it’s too early to estimate the value of damages since floods are still happening in many parts of the country.

However, the Kasikorn Research Center estimates that the floods from August and October may cause around 2.9-3.1 billion baht worth of damage to Thailand’s main crop, the Bangkok Post reported today.

The floods may likely delay harvesting of the main crop by two weeks of the 2022-2023 season.

Chookiat said that many importers are afraid of rising rice prices if Thailand’s production sees a lot of damage. Production for the 2022-2023 crop was originally estimated at 26.9 million tonnes of paddy rice. This would be about 2.1% up from the previous season.

Chookiat noted that if the floods continue and damage overall rice production, there could be a negative impact on exports in the coming year. Still, Chookiat stressed that the floods won’t likely have a big impact on Thai rice exports this year.

Last month, Thai researchers developed a new flood-resistant rice strain. The research team was from the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

The team’s chief, Dr Theerayut Tuchinda, said that Hom Le Noi can also resist a number of natural threats. He said it can resist the brown planthopper, an invasive species that feeds on rice plants. It can also resist a bacterial leaf blight disease, he said.

Hopefully, rice strains like this will one day become widely available in Thailand, to help the rice industry withstand flooding.