Rice Crops Take A Pounding From Southeast Asian Floods
October 26th, 2011, Forbes, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Environment & Natural Resources
October marks the start of the main rice harvest in Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of the grain. Traders are waiting to see the full impact of flooding on the crop, but it’s already clear that output across Southeast Asia will fall substantially. The U.N.’s food agency estimated last week that 12.5% of rice paddy had been damaged in Thailand. Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines also took a hit, with farmers in Vietnam, the second-largest exporter, largely spared. Naturally the U.N. is concerned about food shortages in the affected areas and the impact on poor rice-importing countries. In addition to flooded fields that can’t be harvested on time, grain warehouses have been inundated. Prior to these losses, global rice production was forecast to hit a new record high of 461 million tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture….
Simon Montlake
http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2011/10/26/rice-crops-take-a-pounding-from-southeast-asian-floods/
Offshore energy claims open divisions in Southeast Asia
October 18th, 2011, Forbes, Energy, International Relations, Land Tenure
Depending on who you believe, the South China Sea could be the next Persian Gulf due to its untapped oil and gas deposits. It’s also a key shipping lane that the US Navy has guarded for decades. That’s why so many countries are sparring over remote islands and territorial waters in these waters…
Neither Cambodia nor Thailand are claimants to South China Sea islands. Their offshore energy dispute concerns oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Siam, which lies to the east (left of the map). These fields are the main source of feedstock for Thailand’s petrochemical industry. Cambodia has yet to extract any oil from its own shores (extravagant claims notwithstanding). One reason is that its undersea reserves are thought to be fairly modest and foreign oil companies won’t bite without a bigger field….
If anything, Cambodia has more at stake because it is wholly reliant on imported fuel and still represents a risky market for oil companies. Thailand has more options, and its jointly-adminstered gas field with Malaysia can probably be expanded. But it also needs to maintain a reliable supply to its downstream industries, so its needs are much greater than Cambodia’s….
Simon Montlake, Forbes Staff
http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2011/10/18/offshore-energy-claims-open-divisions-in-southeast-asia/