Total rice output this year is estimated at 45.1 million tonnes, a 0.3 percent increase from 2014, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.  About 91.2 percent of the total area under summer-autumn rice crop was harvested in southern Vietnam by mid-September with an estimated yield of 5.4 tonnes per hectares, up 80kg compared to the same period last year despite reduced rice growing areas.  The increase is due to favourable weather conditions, enabling both a healthy crop and higher rice prices.  The Mekong Delta region has planted more than 612,000 hectares of autumn-winter rice crops this year, up 4 percent annually. Around 20 percent of the area has been harvested, producing 5.43 tonnes per hectare.  However, northern Vietnam is forecast to see its rice output drop 1 percent due to a 1.3 percent decline in growing areas.  Currently, Vietnam boasts around 4.1 million hectares of rice paddies, 53 percent of which are concentrated across the Mekong Delta. In 2014, the country exported 6.3 million tonnes of the 45 million tonnes of rice yields, becoming the world’s third largest rice exporter after India and Thailand.-VNA