Thai rice planting season starts with no subsidies, mounting losses

BANGKOK, May 9 (Reuters): Thailand kicked off rice planting season with an auspicious ritual on Friday but a bountiful crop is the last thing farmers need as they sell into a depressed global market, without the support of a state subsidy for the first time in three decades.
In an ancient ritual held in front of the Grand Palace in Bangkok and presided over by the Crown Prince, sacred oxen predicted another good crop.
Thailand's controversial rice scheme, which has led to billions in losses and fuelled a political crisis in the country, came to an abrupt end on Feb. 28 as former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's caretaker government had no authority to extend the subsidy.
The lack of subsidies, lower rice prices and rising production costs for everything from fertilizer to pesticides will result in a major hit to the country's northeast, the stronghold of Yingluck's brother and billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.