THAILAND (18 February)
Harvesting of the 2002 main season paddy has completed. The main growing season in 2002 has seen excessive rains and flash flooding during August, November and December and below normal rains during July and October. The annual production of paddy for 2002 is projected to be about 25.8 million tonnes (17.1 million tonnes milled rice). This is with the assumption that the second season (May-July harvesting) which is mostly irrigation dependent and normally accounts for about 25 percent of the annual production will follow a normal production pattern.
Harvesting of coarse grains, mainly maize, is also complete; the 2002 output is expected to be around 4.2 million tonnes. This harvest is 11 percent lower than the 4.7 million tonnes produced in 2001 primarily due to dry weather conditions in some maize growing areas in the north.
Thailand is world’s top rice exporter with 7.3 million tonnes of exports during 2002. However, rice exports in January and February 2003 were down compared to the same period in 2002.