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LATIN AMERICA |
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Heavy Rain Causes Huge Rice Production
Losses in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO - Heavy rain in Brazil's key
rice-producing state has caused losses of
700 million reals (about400 million U.S.
dollars) to local rice farmers, it is said.
Over half of the 240,000 hectares of flooded
rice farms in the southern state of Rio
Grande do Sul had not been planted yet, Rio
Grande do Sul Rice Institute (Irga) said
Friday.
The state produces nearly two thirds of the
total rice output in Brazil.
The planting season, which was due to be
over by Dec. 10, has been extended until
Dec. 20. However, the planting may not be
finished by that date because strong storms
will continue in the region in the next few
days, accompanied by wind and hail,
according to weather forecasts.
In 2009, the Rio Grande do Sul state was
expected to produce 8 million tons of rice,
but the rain may have caused losses of up
to1 million tons.
Irga President Mauricio Miguel Fischer said
the amount of lost rice production equals to
one month's consumption in the entire
country.
There would not be a shortage of rice in the
domestic market, but prices might rise 10 to
15 percent in the country, Fischer said.
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