Price of rice still high despite new crop appearing in markets

Milled rice is selling for 120,000 kip for a 12kg bag in some Vientiane markets, which is high compared to last year’s price of 80,000 kip per 12kg. It is not expected that the price of rice will drop any time soon because 151,733 hectares of rainy season rice were flooded and it is feared that dry season rice targets may not be reached this year, which will result in low yields and a consequent shortage. 

A senior official from the Agriculture and Forestry Department in Vientiane province said farmers there had harvested 21,710 hectares of the wet season rice crop, which was 40 per cent of the area planted. Elsewhere, the Agriculture and Forestry Department in Khammuan province reported that farmers had harvested rainy season rice on 27,713 hectares, equal to 41 per cent of the cultivated area. In Savannakhet province, an official at the Agriculture and Forestry Department said farmers had harvested rainy season rice on 42,492 hectares of the 201,621 hectares planted. But much of this area had been flooded and only another 161,087 hectares of rice would be harvested. Director of the Industry and Commerce Department in Savannakhet province, Mr Sython Namthalath, said milled rice was now selling for 9,000 kip per kg compared to 7,000 kip per kg last year. The price was higher because of a shortage created by floods this year.

Information source: Vientiane Times.