HANOI, Aug 7: Vietnam's spring rice harvest produced 730.000 tonnes less than the previous year after natural disasters devastated the northern crop. Vice Premier Vo Van Kiet said here yesterday, reports AFP.

He told the National Assembly that foreign trade and remittances from overseas workers were also down sharply tn the first half of 1991. but industrial production and foreign investment continued to climb.

The winter spring rice crop in northern Vietnam was down orte million tonnes from the previous year, while southern production climbed by 270,000 tonnes, said Kiet, who is expected to be named Prime Minister this week.

He gave no total production figure, but last year's winter spring harvest produced 19 million tonnes of paddy and agriculture officials had set a

goal of 22 million tonnes for this year.

Kiet did not specify whether the natural disasters that hit the north consisted of poor weather or insect plagues. Deliveries of pesticides and fertilize! from the Soviet Union have dropped sharply in the past year.

A native of southern Vietnam's rice-growing Mekong Delta. Kiet said that ensuring proper distribution of rice through the country was one of the most Important tasks facing the government.

Trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe In the first half of 1991 totalled Just 15 per cent of that during the same period the previous year, dragging Vietnam's overall foreign trade figure sharply tower, he said.

After years of providing Vietnam with goods on a barter basis or at concession-

ary prices, cash-strapped Moscow at the start of this year began demanding payment in hard currency at world market prices.

Remittances from Vietnamese workers abroad also plunged to just six or seven per cent of state revenues. down from earlier highs of 25 to 30 per cent, said Kiet, cited by the official Vietnam news agency.

About 200,000 Vietnamese workers have returned home from the Soviet Union. Eastern Europe and Iraq in the past two years according to the Vietnamese labor ministry.

Industrial production was two per cent up in the first half of the year, led by a 26 per cent rise in crude oil production. Kiet said. Phosphate and Nitrogen-based fertilizer production also jumped sharply, by 35 and 300 per cent respectively. "