The complete text of this report will be available electronically about 1 week following this summary release. A 7-percent drop in production to 192.4 million cwt is behind the projected smaller total supplies. In contrast, beginning stocks and imports are up slightly from a year earlier. Lower prices, as well as some drought-related problems in Louisiana, are behind this year's decline in rice acreage. In contrast, the average yield is projected to be a record 6,236 pounds per acre, up 6 percent from a year earlier.
Long grain accounts for almost all of the decline in production.
Low prices at planting were behind a major drop in long grain plantings across the South. At planting, medium grain prices were substantially higher than long grain prices. Exports account for all of the expected decline in total use. Domestic disappearance is projected to increase fractionally. While rough rice exports are projected to remain virtually unchanged at 25 million cwt, milled rice exports are projected to drop 14 percent to 64 million, the smallest in more than 20 years.