The Agricultural Situation in the Far East and Oceania: Review of 1971 and Outlook for 1972

Agricultural output in the Far East and Oceania declined in 1971 in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), Pakistan, Khmer Republic (Cambodia), Ceylon, and Japan. Continued population growth led to a drop in per capita food output in these countries as well as in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Taiwan. Military and political conflicts hampered agricultural production in several countries and Japan intentionally cut rice output in order to reduce carryover stocks. Rice production for the region totaled about 165 million tons of paddy, about the same as in 1970. U.S. agricultural exports to the Far East and Oceania totaled $2.4 billion in 1971, a 4.2-percent decline from a year earlier, while U.S. agricultural imports from the region totaled $1.5 billion, up 4.6 percent. Exports of U.S. farm products to the Far East and Oceania should show some recovery in 1972.