Droughts might reduce rice paddy areas by 30% in Bulgaria

Bulgaria produces over 120 KMT of rice annually and exports about half of the production, approx. 60 KMT, mainly to Turkey.
On the other hand, the country imports around 45 KMT of paddy from neighboring countries, mainly from Greece.
The prolonged drought might cause the paddy cultivation areas to reduce by 30% this year and could make Bulgarian producers look for import alternatives from different destinations.