Myanmar cyclone stirs more rice supply fears

By Grant McCool

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The cyclone and flooding in Myanmar's two major rice growing areas have "potentially serious effects" for food supply in two other impoverished countries, a U.N. official said on Monday.

World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley said it was not yet known whether Myanmar could meet its commitments to supply tens of thousands of tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka and neighbouring Bangladesh.

He said it was too early yet to assess the damage to crops in the main rice-producing regions.

"These are longer term questions and a major issue of concern because of the potentially serious effects for food supply in those countries at a time when global supplies are short," he said.

In the former Myanmar capital Yangon, an official said the planned shipment of 50,000 tonnes of milled rice to Sri Lanka in May may be delayed as the government needs to check its stocks.

"We are still carrying out a damage survey of our rice stocks and will make an appropriate decision after that," said an official at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Commerce and Industry, who declined to be identified.

Myanmar state media said in April the country had exported about 400,000 tonnes of rice in the past year because it had enough supplies to feed its 53 million people.

Global stocks for the staple food of half of the world's population have halved since hitting a record high in 2001.