Helped by record rice production in India, world output of the key staple rose by 2.6 per cent to all—time high of 480.1 million tonnes (MT) in 2011, United Nation’s body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said.

Global rice production stood at 468.1 MT in 2010.

“With the rice season virtually completed, the latest estimate of 2011 world rice production has been lowered slightly to 480.1 MT, still pointing to a 2.6 per cent or 12 MT, increase from 2010 and to an all time high,” FAO said in its latest Food Outlook report.

The downward revision in the 2011 world estimate resulted from adjustments in the output especially in Bangladesh, Mali, Pakistan, Senegal and Venezuela, it added.

“... the increase in world output in 2011 was principally fostered by outstanding results in India, which on the back of a favourable monsoon, experienced a 7.4 MT expansion to 103.4 MT, breaking the 100 MT landmark for the first time,” it noted.

According to the India’s Agriculture Ministry estimates, the country is pegged to have harvested a record 103.41 MT of rice in the 2011—12 crop year (July—June) as against 95.98 MT in the previous crop year.

“Considerably more rice was also harvested in Asia by China, Pakistan and Vietnam. Further sizable gains were achieved by Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal and the Philippines,” it said.

However, a series of setbacks including floods, excessive rains and diseases depressed output in Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, FAO pointed out.

Outside Asia, the 2011 season concluded positively in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt and Uruguay, while poor growing conditions were partly behind disappointing crop results in Madagascar and in countries of West Africa, especially Mali and Senegal, it said.

For the current year, FAO has pegged world rice output at 488 MT.

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