has exported since 1980, about of indica rice, sold at 10–20 baht per kilogram, to Japan where Awamori, an alcoholic beverage, is produced in Okinawa. The Japanese-made beverage is exported back to Thailand at 2,500 baht per litre, 170 times the price of the raw material. In Thailand, small producers of liquor are barred from entering the business by the 2017 Excise Tax Act, which mandates a minimum production volume of 30,000 litres per day, effectively closing off opportunities for local craft distilleries. Competition abroad India in 2020 was the world's leading rice exporter. Its exported . Vietnam is fast catching up: it exported in 2019. Thai farmers are losing the productivity battle to other nations; in Vietnam, yields range from per rai, while in Thailand yields average per rai. Vietnam's production costs are estimated to be 50% lower than those in Thailand. Drought impact In 2008, drought in Southeast Asia attributed to El Niño drove benchmark Thai rice prices to US$1,000 per metric tonne. In that year, lower Thai rice output, coupled with lower output from India and Vietnam, prompted India to ban exports, sending global prices skyrocketing and causing food riots in Haiti and panic measures by big importers such as the Philippines. Starting in late-2014, Thailand's rice industry was again hit with a drought that extended to 2016. The drought was accompanied by decreasing worldwide demand for rice. The drought is expected to cost the economy about 84 billion baht (US$2.4 billion) in 2016 and sap demand for durable goods. Farmers are suffering: farm output has declined seven to eight percent in each of the past two years and farmers' debt to agricultural income is around 100%. The military government approved 11.2 billion baht of measures in 2015 to help farmers, including encouraging them to plant crops that need less water. Rice is the primary target of the water use reduction campaign because it requires up to two and a half times more water than wheat or maize. The major dams in the central region, the Bhumibol and Sirikit Dams, the main water sources for the country's central plain, are at their lowest levels since 1994. The government wants to cut rice production to in the planting season starting May 2016, 25% less than the five-year average. Land ownership issues Many farmers are in debt to local businessmen for their mortgages. The percentage of farmers owning land