FAO Raises World Paddy Production Forecast

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has raised its forecast of 2008 world paddy rice production by more than 1 million MT to reach 668 million MT after improved harvests in India and some other major producing nations.

The 2008 world production is 1.5 % higher than a record output of 658 million MT in 2007, FAO said in a rice report released late on Friday.

World rice prices would remain under downward pressure in the next few months, especially if wheat prices kept falling, but import interest from Africa and Middle East would keep them from dropping below a floor level, the FAO report predicted.