Rice Production Forecast To Fall 2.4 Pct In 2018: Data

South Korea's rice output is expected to fall slightly in 2018 from the previous year due to bad weather conditions during the harvest season and a decline in rice paddies, government data showed Wednesday.

SEJONG, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Oct, 2018 ) :South Korea's rice output is expected to fall slightly in 2018 from the previous year due to bad weather conditions during the harvest season and a decline in rice paddies, government data showed Wednesday.

The country's rice production is forecast to reach some 3.87 million tons this year, down 2.

4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The 2018 estimate is well below the five-year average of some 4.2 million tons.

A total of 738,000 hectares of rice paddies were used to grow the staple grain this year, down 2.2 percent from last year.

The estimate is a bit higher than the market demand for new rice, which stands at 3.78 million tons this year.