Tuesday May 06, 2008

Large swathes of Myanmar completely flooded after cyclone, rice exports to be affected

This article belongs to the Global food crisis story arc.

channelnewsasia.com :

The deadly cyclone that struck Myanmar devastated its main rice-growing region, and could threaten exports meant to ease shortages in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the UN food agency said Tuesday [6 May 2008]. Flooding, which poured damaging salt water into paddy fields, could create long-term food insecurity for Myanmar and other poor Asian countries, World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley warned. Before the cyclone hit, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had forecast that Myanmar would export 500,000 tonnes of rice this year. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which will not produce enough rice to meet their own needs this year, had clinched rice deals with Myanmar as world prices have soared. Part of Bangladesh's rice shortage stemmed from destruction of its own crops by Cyclone Sidr last November. Some countries, including major exporters such as Vietnam and India, have slapped limits on exports to ensure their own domestic supply. That had made even relatively small exporters like Myanmar all the more important to countries seeking to buy the grain.

- The NASA satellite images above show the Myanmar Irrawaddy river delta before and after the cyclone. The entire coastal plain is flooded after the area took a direct hit from the cyclone. The city of Yangon (red rectangle) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Another story from CNA tells us about the sweeping devastation in the region :

channelnewsasia.com :

Large swathes of southwestern Myanmar are under water after a devastating cyclone struck at the weekend, killing at least 15,000 people, satellite images showed. Tropical cyclone Nargis slammed into Myanmar late Friday [2 May 2008], wiping away entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta region and wreaking destruction on a country that is already one of the poorest on the planet. NASA pictures taken on Monday showed the entire coastal plain under water, with fallow agricultural areas of the delta - the country's main rice-growing region - particularly hard hit by flooding.

- This could not have come at a worse time, when worldwide rice supplies are already tight to the point of snapping. Just a day ago, the Philippines had to cancel a 675,000 metric ton rice tender due to a lack of offers. Remember earlier when they were trying to buy 500,000 tons on the American markets and fell short by over 100,000 tons because they had basically bought up the entire American rice market? And they said they would have to increase the amount to over 600,000 tons the next round to make up for it? Well, that next round has come and gone and they GOT NOTHING THIS TIME !! This is serious.

At the same time, Bangladesh, which being a poorer country than the Philippines, decided they couldn't compete on the American rice markets and opted out, even though they themselves were severely in need of supply. Apparently, according to the article above, they had gone and tried to make a deal with Myanmar to get what little supply they could. And now even that small amount of rice exports that could have helped the Bangladesh people has in all likelihood been wiped by the flood.

See also :

1. Thai rice price at new record high of US$1000 a tonne as Asian food crisis worsens
2. Global food crisis looms as Asia's rice bowl empties and world price soars
3. High food prices seen leading to strikes, protests in Asia
4. NY paper reports food rationing appearing in US
5. Rationing of rice hits UK Chinese and curry restaurants

(2008-05-06 23:38:26 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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