MYANMAR AGAIN EMERGES AS TOP OPIUM PRODUCER

Following A Sharp Drop In Production Of The Narcotic In Afghanistan,
Myanmar Has Regained The Top Spot, A US Survey Shows

BANGKOK - Myanmar is once again the world's biggest opium producer because
of a sharp drop in the production of the illegal narcotic in Afghanistan,
according to the latest US government survey.

Despite its lowest opium harvest this year since the mid-1980s, Myanmar has
overtaken Afghanistan, which was the No 1 source of opium for the past
three years, the survey shows.

Myanmar produced an estimated 865 tonnes of opium this year, down from
1,085 tonnes last year, according to a United Nations official who cited
the US State Department Annual Survey of Opium Cultivation and Production.

Afghanistan's opium production this year was just 185 tonnes, compared to
3,276 tonnes last year, according to a recent estimate by the United
Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

Afghanistan's opium yield dropped this year following a successful ban on
poppy growing by its former Taleban rulers.

According to US figures, Afghanistan overtook Myanmar as the No 1 producer
in 1998 and was responsible for 72 per cent of the global supply last year.

The US figures are set for publication in an annual report early next year.

The survey uses satellite imagery and opium yield sampling on the ground.
The figures were given by Mr Yngve Danling, law-enforcement adviser to
UNDCP's Asia office in Bangkok.

The US survey attributed the drop in Myanmar mainly to poor weather and
some drug-eradication efforts.

It found the area of land cultivated for opium declined by just 3 per cent
to 105,000 ha compared to last year.

The Myanmar government, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to
drug trafficking in its border regions, says it is doing all it can with
minimal foreign aid to end opium growing by poor hill-tribe farmers.

At the same time, drug producers have diversified into cheap and popular
stimulant pills, which have become a social menace in several Asian countries.

Called methamphetamines, they are easier to produce than heroin and offer
bigger profits.