World Rice Production to Rise 3% This Year, UN’s FAO Forecasts

World rice production is forecast to rise 3 percent this year, based on expected better weather and government support for farmers, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The 2011 rice harvest is estimated to climb to 720 million metric tons from 699 million tons, or 480 million tons on a milled basis compared with 466 million tons a year earlier, the Rome-based FAO said in report on its website.

Price gains for rice, a staple for half the world, have trailed those of other grains. Thai grade-B white rice has gained 6 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 56 percent gain for Chicago wheat prices.

“This rather buoyant outlook relies on expectations of improved weather conditions, as the effects of La Nina look set to dissipate in the next few months,” the FAO said, referring to a weather pattern that brings excessive rain to Southeast Asia. “The bulk of the increase is again expected to stem from good performances in Asia.”

Output is also expected to rise in Europe, Australia and Latin America, while the rice harvest in Africa is forecast to be little changed, according to FAO. U.S. rice production may slide 15 percent in 2011 as farmers switch land to more profitable crops, the UN agency said.

The rice crop in Asia is forecast to climb 3 percent to 651 million tons, or 434 million tons on a milled basis, based on “sizeable” increases in China and India and a recovery of production in Pakistan, the FAO said.

Production increases in Asia will be “widespread,” with gains countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, the FAO said.

“By contrast, the outlook has been marred in Sri Lanka by consecutive rounds of floods, and in Japan, by the March 11 catastrophic earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis,” the FAO said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris.

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