As rice prices soar, Thai farmers roll up sleeves

By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat

SUPHAN BURI, Thailand (Reuters) - Pranee On-lamoon gazes anxiously at her newly planted rice paddy, hoping to cash in on a price rally that has so far eluded most Thai growers.

Like many farmers in the heart of Thailand's main rice growing region, Pranee was spurred to grow a rare third crop of the staple grain after supply fears across Asia in the last four months pushed rice prices to historic highs.

"It's a risk, but it is the one golden chance I have," Pranee, 56, told Reuters as she prepared to work on her six hectare (15 acre) paddy field in the province of Suphan Buri, just north of Bangkok.

"I have been a farmer since I was born and I've never seen prices rise so high," the mother-of-two said.

But despite their back-breaking work, farmers such as Pranee might be the last to reap profits from high rice prices and the first to pay the bill from high planting costs and the risk that rice prices might tumble before harvest time in around June.

Most Thai farmers missed the chance to profit from prices as high as 17,000 baht a ton this month because they had to sell most of their crop after harvest in November due to a lack of storage on their own farms.

That same month India imposed a ban on non-basmati rice exports to ensure it had enough rice to feed its one billion people, sparking fears about supply and forcing up prices.

Vietnam, the world's number two exporter, then started restricting shipments, leading to a buying frenzy on world markets that has caused prices to double since January.