La Nina-inspired torrential rain which has lashed Australia's sugarcane in the state of Queensland, causing significant crop losses, had not been experienced in Fiji, he told Reuters from Suva.

"We were hoping La Nina could come and bring some rain but the drought is continuing," he said.

Experts were predicting that there might be a break in the drought this month or in October at the latest, he said.

Despite the variable success rate of predictions in the past, "we hope there will be a break", he said.

FSC was hoping that Fiji could hold onto the depleted sugarcane crop it had at present, he said.

Latest estimates were for a cane crop of 1.7-1.8 million tonnes, he said.

This is virtually steady with the June estimate of 1.76 million tonnes, but welldown from estimates of 2.5 million tonnes early in 1998.

These in turn were strongly down from normal production of more than four million tonnes. In 1997 production was down by 20 percent to 3.5 million tonnes because of two cyclones and a strike by cane cutters during the harvest.

However, 1998 sugar content was good and holding at better than expected levels, Galuinadi said.

Forecasts of raw sugar production were difficult, but FSC was looking at a 1998 output of less than 200,000 tonnes against 1997 production of 357,000 tonnes, he said.

Fiji's harvest and crush, which normally runs until December, would finish early this year in October for some mills and in November for others.

A break to the drought would not assist the present crop but would assist next year's crop, Galuinadi said.

Commenting on the heavy rain which has hit the cane crop in Australia's Queensland, Galuinandi said: "At least we know it can rain".

Sugar is Fiji's second-biggest industry after tourism but is regarded as thereal backbone of the economy.

Fiji's drought is seen to have resulted from the El Nino weather effect, which also caused drought, crop losses and famine in parts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in 1997 and early 1998.

El Nino is now fading in the Australia/Southeast Asia region, giving way to its opposite effect La Nina, Australian weather officials say.

Recent heavy rain and floods in eastern Australia have resulted from the fading of El Nino, they say.

La Nina, the inverse of El Nino, is associated with heavy rain and flooding in eastern Australia and east Asia.