Good rains in the last dekad of May have brought some relief to the drought affected areas of the central highlands and the south, but the total rainfall for May was well below average. The drought damage to the winter-spring paddy crop, which has just been harvested, is reported to have been slight. However, the dry conditions are affecting the summer- autumn crop, which makes up close to a quarter of total output. The 1998 paddy production is expected to be slightly less than last year's output of 27.5 million tonnes.
In the first four months of this year, rice exports reached 2.3 million tonnes, a 160 percent increase over the same period last year. In the last week of May, the Government partially lifted a ban on fresh rice export contracts, allowing some state-owned firms to negotiate new deals. The target for the whole of 1998 is 4 million tonnes. Last year 3.5 million tonnes were exported.