Uzbekistan is planning to produce 611 thousand tons of unhusked rice and 350 thousand tons of rice this year, which almost doubles the production achieved in 2020, the agriculture ministry said.

Last year the Central Asian nation produced 323 thousand tons of unhusked rice and 180 thousand tons of rice, it said.

It added that Uzbekistan imported 13.6 thousand tons of rice in 2020 and the country’s annual demand is around 335 thousand tones.

The ministry explained that using new types of rice and introducing two crop production a year would allow them to double the production. New sorts were brought from Vietnam, China, South Korea, Russia and Turkey.