Harvesting of the 2002 maize and sorghum crops have been recently completed while that of the paddy crop is well advanced. The state of the crops is reported to be normal. A slightly above-average wheat crop of 6.6 million tonnes was harvested in 2002. Production of maize, the main coarse grain, is provisionally estimated at 6.6 million tonnes, some 4 per cent smaller than the output collected in 2001 but still average. A well above-average paddy crop of 6.0 million tonnes is also provisionally estimated, which compares to a past 5-year average of 5.4 million tonnes. Planting of the irrigated wheat crop for harvesting from April 2003 has only started.
Wheat imports in 2002/03 (July/June) should be about 6.3 million tonnes, some 7 per cent below the volume imported in 2001/02. Maize imports are forecast to decrease slightly from the previous year’s level.