Market and product

* Up to 8,000 hectares of rubber plantation destroyed

* Death toll at 45, more than 2 million people affected

* One airport remains shut, train service resumes

BANGKOK, April 4 - Thailand, the world's biggestrubber exporter, may not produce the 3.3 million tonnes it isaiming for this year because mudslides have devastatedplantation areas and further heavy rain is forecast, traderssaid on Monday.

Floods and mudslides have cut off road and air transport insouthern Thailand and killed 45 people across 10 provinces.

Seven provinces remained partially under water on Mondayand officials predicted heavy rain across the rubber-rich region in the next seven days.

"Our concern is that sporadic heavy rain could hinder recovery efforts, but at this point we don't expect the severeflash floods that we saw last week," said Wiboon Sangruangpong,director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention andMitigation.

Up to 8,000 hectares out of 1.92 million hectares of rubberplantations had been destroyed by mudslides and flooding,according to a provisional estimate from the department.

A rough calculation, based on the 8,000 hectares and ayield of 2,400 kgs per rai, suggests that up to 120,000 tonnesof rubber could be lost.

"We could miss the forecast of 3.3 million tonnes of rubberproduction this year as some rubber trees were completelydestroyed," said a trader at Thailand's Hat Yai rubber centre,referring to a forecast by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The floods have affected more than 2 million people,displaced tens of thousands of villagers and stranded tourists,while damaging over 167,000 hectares of farmland. At least3,100 roads and over 2,600 houses have been damaged.

The Thai Rubber Association said on Thursday that shipmentsof at least 50,000 tonnes of rubber had been delayed as someproducers had been forced to shut factories temporarily andtransportation was disrupted.

"There could be more (damage) but the flood water is stillhigh and roads are cut off, so we can't do a thorough surveyyet," Prapas Uernontat, secretary-general of the Thai RubberAssociation, told Reuters on Monday.

Industry officials said on Friday that up to 60,000 tonnesof shrimp had been washed away by the floods. [ID:nSGE730023]

The military and navy used a light aircraft carrier toevacuate thousands of tourists from resort islands last week.

Train services had resumed on Monday to some areas wherethe water level had subsided. Ferry services from the mainlandto resort islands had also resumed operations but theMeteorological Department warned tourists to check the weatherbefore travelling.

The authorities said it was too early to estimate overalldamage from the unseasonable rains.

Rubber supply is normally light at this time of the year,which is supposed to be the dry, low-production season, aheadof the Songkran festival in mid-April when business in Thailandgrinds to halt. Songkran this year runs from April 13-15.