FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 04/00 - THAILAND (21 March)
In the second and third dekad of March, dry weather prevailed over most parts of the country. The harvest of the second season rice crop will commence from May and continue through June. The bulk of rice production, some 80 percent comes from the main crop from June to October/November. Outcome of the current (second) crop is forecast 4.3 million tonnes of paddy, which together with the 18.9 million tonnes produced in the main season will bring aggregate 1999/2000 production to around 23.3 million tonnes. At this level, output will be some 2 percent above the 22.8 million tonnes produced in 1998/99 and almost 3 percent above average for the previous five years.
A total of around 6.7 million tonnes of rice were exported in 1999, 5 percent above 1998. In the period from the beginning of January to the middle of March, rice exports totalled around 1.4 million tonnes, around 2.6 percent up on the previous year.
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