those for production, as only about 5–6% of
rice produced is traded internationally. In
economic terms, the global rice trade was a
small fraction of 1% of world mercantile
trade. Many countries consider rice as a strategic food staple, and various
governments subject its trade to a wide
range of controls and interventions. Developing countries are the main players
in the world rice trade, accounting for 83%
of exports and 85% of imports. While there
are numerous importers of rice, the
exporters of rice are limited. Just five
countries – Thailand, Vietnam, China, the United States and India – in decreasing
order of exported quantities, accounted for
about three-quarters of world rice exports in 2002.[51] In 2010, the three largest exporters of rice,
in decreasing order of quantity exported
were Thailand, Vietnam and India.
Together, they accounted for nearly 70% of
the world rice exports. The primary variety
exported by Thailand and Vietnam were Jasmine rice, while exports from India included aromatic Basmati variety. China, an exporter of rice in early 2000s, was a net importer of rice in 2010. Major importers usually include Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil and some African and Persian Gulf countries. Although China and India are the two largest
producers of rice in the world, both
countries consume the majority of the rice
produced domestically, leaving little to be
traded internationally.
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