Bangladesh to harvest more rice: USDA

Bangladesh is likely to harvest slightly more rice crop in fiscal 2014-15, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its latest report.
Total rice output may rise 0.60 percent to 3.48 crore tonnes in the current fiscal year from last year, the agency said.
Apart from Bangladesh, rice output is projected to be higher in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Production in India, one of the major exporters, may decline to 10.6 crore tonnes this fiscal year from 10.63 million tonnes the previous year, USDA said.
USDA forecasts that global rice production for 2014-15 may be at a record of 48.07 crore tonnes (milled basis), up 1 percent from a year earlier.
Record production is projected for East Asia and Southeast Asia.

South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are also projected to harvest a near-record crop, it said.
In Bangladesh, the Department of Agricultural Extension has set targets for aus and aman crop productions at 24 lakh tonnes and 1.34 crore tonnes respectively for the year starting July. Targets for boro, the main crop, is yet to be fixed as the production estimate for boro in the recently concluded fiscal year is not done yet.
A senior DAE official said the total rice production target may be set at 3.48 crore tonnes or above for fiscal 2014-15.