FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 11/98 - BANGLADESH (25 November)

BANGLADESH (25 November)

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission which visited the country in October, found that the unprecedented monsoon floods from July to September caused a loss of around 2.2 million tonnes of rice production. The monsoon rice production (Aus and Aman) is projected at some 9.2 million tonnes (milled basis), about 14 percent lower than last year's reduced output. An increase in the winter-sown Boro rice crop is expected to partly offset the flood losses.

The Mission forecast the 1998/99 total paddy production at 26.3 million tonnes (17.6 million tonnes on milled basis), some 6 percent less than 1997/98. In contrast, compared to last year, wheat production is forecast to increase by about 10 percent to 1.98 million tonnes

Cereal import requirement in 1998/99 is estimated at about 4 million tonnes, with rice and wheat accounting for 1.6 and 2.4 million tonnes respectively. International assistance is required to import about 1.5 million tonnes of which 1.13 million tonnes have already been pledged.

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