VIET NAM (12 September)
Harvesting of the winter/spring paddy crop was completed in July. Planting of the tenth-month paddy crop has just been completed. Official estimates for the aggregate 2003 output have been set at 33.5 million tonnes, slightly lower than last year’s record crop, but 5.3 percent higher compared to the previous five-year average. Rice exports for 2003/04 are forecast at 4.1 million tonnes, making Viet Nam the world’s second-largest rice exporter. In the first eight months of the current year, the country exported 2.96 million tonnes of rice worth US$557 million, mainly to the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.
The outcome of the 2003 maize harvest is estimated at 2 million tonnes, which is slightly below last year’s level but above average. The government is attempting to attain self-sufficiency in maize by expanding area under maize to 1.2 million hectares by 2005 and by increasing the use of hybrids.