Reuters
December 12

zbekistan plans to harvest 4.903 million tonnes of grain in 2002, up from this year's 3.917 million tonnes, an agriculture ministry official said on Wednesday.

Of this, about 4.750 million tonnes will be wheat and the rest either rye or barley.

Large farms were expected to gather 4.303 million tonnes while private farms would harvest around 600,000 tonnes, the official said.

He made no comment on the weather expected for next year.

The Central Asian state originally forecast a harvest of 4.7 million tonnes for this year but was forced to lower the target after being hit by a heat wave for the second year in a row.

Traders estimate that Uzbekistan, which has a population of more than 25 million, consumes around 4.5 million tonnes of grain a year.

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