Japan's rice harvest index for 2004 was a "slightly poor" reading of 98, remaining below the base of 100 for an average year for the second consecutive year due to a series of typhoons this fall.
But the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Wednesday that the harvest is still about 12 percent bigger than in 2003, when the index was an "extremely poor" 90, the lowest in 10 years, due to unseasonably low temperatures and poor sunlight that summer.