(Seafood.com) Bangkok is returning
The World Bank estimates the flood will cost Thailand about 1.4 trillion baht ($44.5 million), slashing the country's economic growth to 2.4 per cent this year. Sandbags are still stacked in doorways, but the city is slowly, surely, returning to its chaotic normal self.
On Monday the Thai cabinet approved a plan to disburse 20 billion baht rapidly for initial post-flood rebuilding and to stimulate the economy, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said.
"This is part of an emergency plan of the government's flood relief program. It is part of 60 billion baht budget approved earlier," Yingluck told reporters after a special meeting. The remainder of the budget would be approved in stages later because affected provinces and government agencies have to review the funds needed for post-flood recovery to avoid any duplication, Yingluck said.
Shrimp farming areas by and large have escaped damage from the floods.
According a report from Diamond V, which markets shrimp feed additives in Thailand, overall shrimp farming has not been significantly affected. From May through November 2011, the floods slowly swept southward from the Central Plains into Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. The major shrimp producing regions for the export market are in the far south and southeast and were not much affected.
“There has been some effect on the inland, low-salinity production of Penaeus vannamei. This sector produces no more than 20% of the national output, and my estimate is that a quarter of this may have been destroyed by flooding. Total loss to the low-salinity sector should have been no more than 5% of national production. Much of this shrimp does not enter international markets due to persistent off flavor. Most of it is sold domestically,” said Brian Hunter of Diamond V in an email to Bob Rosenberry, of Shrimp News.
Their was some concern when the government talked about closing Highway 2 due to projected flooding during the first weeks of November. This closing would have affected shrimp processing, as the major processing plants are located 2-3 hours south of Bangkok in the Mahachai and Petchaburi regions on or near Highway 2. As it turned out, there was no closure to Highway 2.