Bogor, Indonesia, Aug 5 - Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, expects its paddy production to grow less than 5 percent next year after falling this year, an adviser to Thailand's agriculture minister said on Wednesday.
Total Thai paddy production for this year is forecast to be 31.24 million tonnes, a drop of 2.5 percent from a year ago, said Apichart Pongsrihadulchai, who is an adviser to Thailand's minister of agriculture and cooperatives Theera Wongsamut.
The official was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on food security in the Indonesian city of Bogor.
Rice production in Thailand is expected to peak in November when the 2009/10 crop is due to be harvested.