SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's rice production was expected to have fallen this year due to bad weather and reduced rice paddies, the farm ministry said Wednesday.

Rice output was estimated at 3,875,000 tons in 2018, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

It was well below the five-year average of about 4.2 million tons in rice production.

The scorching heatwave in summer negatively affected the rice yields. The rice cultivation area dropped to 738,000 hectares this year from 755,000 hectares in the previous year.

Despite the supply fall, the country's rice demand was estimated at 3,780,000 tons this year, staying below the rice production.