The Thai Rice Bowl May Get a Little Skimpier

摘要

Many Thais revere Me Posop, the rice goddess who guards humankind and rewards good stewards of her grain. Me Posop has been kind to Thailand in recent decades. While its neighbors Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos struggled through war, Marxist-Leninism, and authoritarian rule, Thailand prospered from its new factories and booming rice exports. The nation surpassed Myanmar as the world's top rice shipper in 1965: Last year 9 million tons of Thai rice were exported around the world. Thailand, like the Saudis in oil, became the key producer, the country that could always moderate global prices with its abundant reserves. This year, while corn and wheat prices have reached new highs, ample stockpiles of Thai rice have driven rice prices down.