Bangkok, Thailand, 17 July 2014 – As the 2013 harvest season draws to a close, Asia and Western Africa have produced more rice than expected, heightening the global paddy production forecast. This is according to FAO’s latest Rice Market Monitoring Report. FAO now forecasts 2013 global paddy production at 747.0 million tonnes, or 498.0 million tonnes on a milled basis. The resulting 1.5 percent year-to-year increase still falls short of the long-run pace of 2.0 percent registered since 2000, according to the report.