# Where does rice come from?

Source: Commodity Origins, https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/rice/ — data JSON: https://commodityorigins.com/data/commodities/rice.json — license CC BY 4.0 (upstream data keeps its license; see Sources below).

Rice comes mainly from India, which produced 217.9 million tonnes in 2024, 27% of the world's 819.8 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). China (25%), Bangladesh (7.4%) and Indonesia (6.5%) follow; the top five together supply 71%. The biggest exporter of rice (HS 1006, mostly milled) is India (30% of world export value in 2024, CEPII BACI). The benchmark price, Thai 5% broken, Bangkok FOB, was $471/t in August 2026, up 26% from a year earlier (World Bank Pink Sheet). Rice is grown where a monsoon can flood a level field for months, so the great alluvial deltas and river plains of South and Southeast Asia, farmed for rice since the crop was domesticated in the Yangtze valley, still hold most of the world's paddy.

*The staple grain of half the world, grown in flooded paddies and traded milled; production is counted as paddy (unmilled).* Also called: paddy rice, milled rice, rice grain, basmati, jasmine rice.

## Where does rice come from?

| Rank | Country | Production 2024 (tonnes) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 217.9 million | 27% |
| 2 | China | 207.5 million | 25% |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 60.6 million | 7.4% |
| 4 | Indonesia | 53.1 million | 6.5% |
| 5 | Vietnam | 43.5 million | 5.3% |
| 6 | Thailand | 33.6 million | 4.1% |
| 7 | Myanmar | 27.7 million | 3.4% |
| 8 | Philippines | 19.1 million | 2.3% |
| 9 | Pakistan | 14.6 million | 1.8% |
| 10 | Cambodia | 14.2 million | 1.7% |
| | Rest of world | 0 | 16% |
| | World | 819.8 million | 100% |

Source: FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products (QCL), 2024.

Rice is a crop of flooded fields. Asian rice (Oryza sativa) tolerates standing water that drowns weeds and most other cereals, so the plant thrives on flat, water-retentive land with a long warm season and a reliable supply of water, whether from the monsoon or from irrigation canals. Those conditions describe the river plains and deltas of monsoon Asia: the Ganges and Brahmaputra, the Yangtze and Pearl, the Mekong, the Irrawaddy and the Chao Phraya. Terraced hillsides and rain-fed uplands add area but far less grain per hectare.

In 2024 India produced 217.9 million tonnes of paddy, 27% of the world's 819.8 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). China came second with 207.5 million tonnes (25%), followed by Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. Together the top five grew 71% of the total, and 135 countries reported a crop. World paddy output changed by +10% over the ten years to 2024.

The ranking reflects population as much as climate. China and India each feed more than a billion people on a rice-based diet, and most of what they grow is eaten at home. Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam sit on deltas that can carry two or three crops a year under irrigation. Outside Asia, rice matters in Brazil, the United States (Arkansas, Louisiana, California), Egypt's Nile delta, Madagascar and the irrigated schemes of West Africa, but their combined tonnage is small next to the Asian core; countries outside the top ten grew 16% of the 2024 crop.

The FAOSTAT figures above count paddy, the grain still in its husk. Milled white rice, the form that is eaten and traded, weighs roughly two-thirds as much, which is why production and trade tables on this page are not directly comparable.


## Who exports and imports rice?

### Exporters of rice (HS 1006), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | $11.9 billion | 30% |
| 2 | Thailand | $6.7 billion | 17% |
| 3 | Pakistan | $4.1 billion | 10% |
| 4 | Vietnam | $4.1 billion | 10% |
| 5 | United States | $2.5 billion | 6.4% |
| 6 | Cambodia | $1.9 billion | 4.8% |
| 7 | Myanmar | $1.4 billion | 3.6% |
| 8 | China | $952.2 million | 2.4% |
| 9 | Italy | $907.3 million | 2.3% |
| 10 | Brazil | $588.4 million | 1.5% |
| 11 | Uruguay | $582.6 million | 1.5% |
| 12 | Paraguay | $445.4 million | 1.1% |
| 13 | Belgium | $316.3 million | 0.8% |
| 14 | Netherlands | $280.2 million | 0.7% |
| 15 | Tanzania | $271.5 million | 0.7% |

### Importers of rice (HS 1006), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indonesia | $2.7 billion | 6.8% |
| 2 | Philippines | $2.5 billion | 6.3% |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | $1.9 billion | 4.8% |
| 4 | Vietnam | $1.7 billion | 4.3% |
| 5 | Iraq | $1.6 billion | 4.2% |
| 6 | United States | $1.6 billion | 4% |
| 7 | Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) | $1.1 billion | 2.8% |
| 8 | Malaysia | $1.1 billion | 2.7% |
| 9 | Benin | $963.8 million | 2.4% |
| 10 | China | $905.7 million | 2.3% |
| 11 | United Kingdom | $719.4 million | 1.8% |
| 12 | Senegal | $716.8 million | 1.8% |
| 13 | Iran | $700.9 million | 1.8% |
| 14 | Brazil | $690.2 million | 1.7% |
| 15 | France | $688 million | 1.7% |

### Exporters of semi-milled or wholly milled rice (HS 100630), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | $10.8 billion | 35% |
| 2 | Thailand | $5.8 billion | 19% |
| 3 | Vietnam | $3.8 billion | 12% |
| 4 | Pakistan | $3.2 billion | 10% |
| 5 | United States | $1.4 billion | 4.5% |
| 6 | Myanmar | $880.4 million | 2.8% |
| 7 | Italy | $781.6 million | 2.5% |
| 8 | China | $654.4 million | 2.1% |
| 9 | Cambodia | $473.2 million | 1.5% |
| 10 | Uruguay | $305 million | 1% |
| 11 | Tanzania | $265.6 million | 0.9% |
| 12 | Paraguay | $264.9 million | 0.9% |
| 13 | Brazil | $187.8 million | 0.6% |
| 14 | Netherlands | $187.2 million | 0.6% |
| 15 | Turkey (Türkiye) | $185.3 million | 0.6% |

### Importers of semi-milled or wholly milled rice (HS 100630), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indonesia | $2.4 billion | 7.8% |
| 2 | Philippines | $2.2 billion | 7.2% |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | $1.9 billion | 6.1% |
| 4 | Iraq | $1.6 billion | 5.3% |
| 5 | United States | $1.5 billion | 4.8% |
| 6 | Malaysia | $1.1 billion | 3.4% |
| 7 | Benin | $927.4 million | 3% |
| 8 | Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) | $881.8 million | 2.8% |
| 9 | Iran | $700.9 million | 2.3% |
| 10 | United Arab Emirates | $674.3 million | 2.2% |
| 11 | South Africa | $631.4 million | 2% |
| 12 | China | $611.1 million | 2% |
| 13 | Japan | $592.7 million | 1.9% |
| 14 | Yemen | $588 million | 1.9% |
| 15 | Togo | $552.5 million | 1.8% |

Source: CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601).

Only a small slice of the rice crop crosses a border, because the biggest producers are also the biggest eaters. In 2024 world exports of rice (HS 1006, mostly milled) were worth $39.5 billion (CEPII BACI). India was the largest exporter with 30% of that value, ahead of Thailand (17%) and Pakistan (10%). Most of what ships is milled: India led exports of semi-milled or wholly milled rice (HS 100630) in 2024, with 35% of the value, and parboiled, basmati and jasmine rice each move through their own price ladders.

Buyers are scattered. Indonesia was the largest importer in 2024 with 6.8% of world import value, followed by Philippines and Saudi Arabia. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Gulf states and Iran take the bulk of long-grain white and parboiled cargoes, while basmati flows from India and Pakistan to the Middle East and Europe. Because exportable supply is concentrated in a handful of Asian countries, one government's export rule can move prices for every importer.


## What does rice cost?

- Thai 5% broken, Bangkok FOB: $471/t in August 2026; 12-month change +26%; 10-year change +13%; all-time high $907/t in April 2008; real high (2024 US$) $3,937/t in April 1974 (World Bank Pink Sheet).
- Vietnamese 5% broken: $410.9/t in August 2026; 12-month change +8%; 10-year change +18%; all-time high $780/t in June 2008; real high (2024 US$) $1,125/t in June 2008 (World Bank Pink Sheet).
- Thai 25% broken: $447/t in August 2026; 12-month change +23%; 10-year change +11%; all-time high $700/t in July 2008; real high (2024 US$) $1,003/t in July 2008 (World Bank Pink Sheet).
- Thai A.1 Super (broken): $452.8/t in August 2026; 12-month change +27%; 10-year change +15%; all-time high $762.7/t in April 2008; real high (2024 US$) $1,118/t in April 2008 (World Bank Pink Sheet).

Prices are monthly benchmark averages that lag the market; not investment advice.

### How it is priced

Rice has no single world price. The market quotes a family of origin-and-grade prices, and the most watched is Thai white rice with 5% brokens, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, which the World Bank carries as Thai 5% broken, Bangkok FOB. In August 2026 that series stood at $471/t, up 26% from a year earlier (World Bank Pink Sheet). Its nominal high was $907/t in April 2008, during the 2008 export-ban panic, and its low since 1960 was $95.7/t in April 1971. Sister quotes track the same grade elsewhere and lower grades in Thailand: Vietnamese 5% brokens at $410.9/t, Thai 25% brokens at $447/t and Thai A.1 Super, an all-broken grade used for feed and brewing, at $452.8/t.

Grade means the share of broken kernels in a sample: 5% brokens is a premium table rice, 25% a cheaper cargo grade, 100% brokens a byproduct. Parboiled rice (steamed in the husk before milling) and aromatic rices (basmati, jasmine) are priced separately and usually higher. A quote is FOB, meaning the price at the loading port with freight and insurance still to add; buyers in West Africa or the Philippines compare cost-and-freight (CFR) landed prices, so ocean freight is part of the origin competition. Government tenders, such as those run by the Philippines, Indonesia's Bulog and Bangladesh, set visible benchmarks for large lots.

The only active exchange contract is CBOT Rough Rice (ticker ZR, 2,000 hundredweight, quoted in US$/cwt), which prices unmilled US long-grain paddy and is thin next to the Asian physical market. Two ambiguities matter when reading this page: production is counted as paddy while trade and prices refer to milled rice, and the Asian FOB quotes are indicative prices assembled by reporters from trader offers rather than an exchange settlement.


## What moves the price of rice?

### The monsoon and El Niño

Most of Asia's rice depends on the June to September southwest monsoon and its Southeast Asian counterparts. A weak or late monsoon shrinks India's kharif (summer-sown) area and pushes farmers toward shorter crops; El Niño years tend to bring drought to Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia and salt intrusion into the Mekong delta as river flows fall. Because irrigated deltas can partly compensate, the price effect is felt most through the policy response of exporters rather than through a global shortfall.

### India's export policy

India's share of world exports makes its trade rules the single biggest swing factor in the market. Delhi has banned non-basmati exports (2007 to 2008 and July 2023 to September 2024), taxed them, set minimum export prices and prohibited broken-rice shipments (September 2022) whenever domestic prices or the state grain stock looked uncomfortable. Each measure diverts demand to Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan, whose exportable surpluses are far smaller, so FOB Bangkok jumps even when the world crop is fine.

### Stocks-to-use

Rice is stored as paddy and as milled grain by governments as well as traders, and the stocks-to-use ratio (ending stocks divided by consumption) is the cleanest read on how much cushion the market has. USDA put world milled-rice stocks-to-use at 36% for 2026/27, against 37% in 2025/26 (USDA PSD). A large part of world stocks sits in China and India, where they are not available to importers, so the exporters' own stock position matters more than the headline.

### Importer tenders and panic buying

A few large buyers can move the market by changing when they buy. The Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and several West African importers purchase through tenders or state agencies, and a run of tenders in a short period, as in the spring of 2008, drains exporters' available cargo and lifts offers for everyone. The reverse also holds: when the Philippines or Indonesia announce a good harvest and pause imports, Vietnamese and Thai prices soften.

### Currencies

FOB prices are quoted in US dollars but exporters' costs are in Thai baht, Vietnamese dong, Indian rupees and Pakistani rupees. A weaker baht lets Thai exporters undercut Vietnam at the same local return, while a strong baht is one reason Thailand lost share after 2011. Importers in Africa face the mirror image: a weaker naira or CFA franc makes the same dollar cargo dearer at home.

### Fertilizer, energy and freight

Rice is a fertilizer-hungry, irrigated crop, so urea prices and the cost of pumping water and drying grain feed straight into farm margins in Vietnam and Thailand. Ocean freight matters more than for most grains because a large share of rice moves in bags on smaller vessels or in containers to ports in West Africa and the Caribbean. Fuel, container availability and Red Sea or Suez disruptions therefore widen or narrow the landed-price gap between Asian and South American origins.

### Pests, disease and salinity

Rice blast fungus, bacterial blight and brown planthopper outbreaks can cut yields across whole provinces, and planthopper resistance to insecticides has recurred in Vietnam and Thailand. In the Mekong and Ganges deltas the long-run threat is salt water pushing upriver in dry years, which forces farmers to skip a crop or switch to shrimp. Breeding at IRRI and national institutes has delivered submergence-tolerant and salt-tolerant lines, but adoption lags the hazard.

## How is rice produced?

Rice varieties fall into two broad groups. Indica types are long-grained, non-sticky and grown across tropical Asia; japonica types are short or medium-grained, stickier and grown in cooler zones such as northern China, Japan, Korea and California. Aromatic rices sit in between: basmati from the Indo-Gangetic plain and jasmine (hom mali) from northeast Thailand command premiums for scent and grain length. Glutinous rice is a separate market in Laos, Thailand and southern China.

The crop is sown either directly or transplanted as seedlings into puddled fields kept under a few centimeters of water for most of the season. In rain-fed systems there is one crop a year, harvested after the monsoon; in the irrigated deltas of Vietnam, Bangladesh and southern China two or three crops are possible, which is why those countries yield far more per hectare of land than their sown area suggests. Harvest calendars are staggered around the region, so some origin is always cutting new crop.

Milling turns paddy into food. The husk is stripped off first to give brown rice, then the bran layers are polished away to give white rice, and the output is graded by the proportion of broken kernels. Parboiling steams paddy before milling, which hardens the grain, reduces breakage and keeps more nutrients; it is the standard form in much of India, Bangladesh and West Africa. Each step yields a byproduct: husk is burned for heat and power at the mill, bran is pressed for rice bran oil or fed to livestock, and brokens go to brewing, noodles and rice flour. Milled rice weighs roughly two-thirds of the paddy that produced it.


### Harvest calendar

- China (Single and late crop): harvest Sep, Oct, Nov. Early crop harvested July–August.
- India (Kharif rice): harvest Oct, Nov, Dec. Rabi rice harvested March–May.
- Bangladesh (Aman): harvest Nov, Dec. Boro harvested April–May.
- Indonesia (Main wet-season crop): harvest Feb, Mar, Apr, May
- Vietnam (Winter–spring (Mekong)): harvest Feb, Mar, Apr. Summer–autumn harvested June–August.
- Thailand (Main crop): harvest Nov, Dec. Second crop harvested March–June.
- Myanmar (Monsoon crop): harvest Oct, Nov, Dec
- Philippines (Wet season): harvest Oct, Nov, Dec

## What is rice used for?

Almost all rice is eaten as grain, boiled or steamed, and it is the daily staple for most of Asia and a growing part of Africa. Processing takes the rest: brokens and flour go into noodles, crackers, baby food and beer as an adjunct starch; polished rice is brewed into sake and other rice wines; bran is refined into cooking oil; and husk and straw fuel boilers, pack goods and feed animals. Rice is rarely used as livestock feed except for broken grades and in years when it is cheaper than corn, which is one reason its price moves independently of the feed-grain complex.


## Supply chain and chokepoints

Milling happens close to the fields, because paddy is bulky and spoils if stored wet. Thailand's and Vietnam's export mills cluster along the Chao Phraya and Mekong deltas, where barges carry paddy and milled rice to river ports and on to Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. India's exporters mill in Punjab and Haryana for basmati and in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal for non-basmati, shipping from Kakinada, Kandla and Mundra. Pakistani rice leaves from Karachi, US rice from New Orleans and the Gulf, and Brazil and Uruguay ship southern-hemisphere paddy and milled rice to Central America and West Africa.

Rice moves in bags and containers as much as in bulk, so port handling and container supply are chokepoints in their own right. Cargoes to West Africa and the Middle East pass the Strait of Malacca and either the Red Sea and Suez or the Cape, and the 2024 Red Sea attacks lengthened the Asia to Europe and West Africa route. Landlocked importers such as Nepal and the Sahel states depend on a single road or rail corridor from the coast.

The single point of failure is policy rather than geography. Exportable surplus is concentrated in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States, and the largest of those has restricted exports repeatedly. A second vulnerability is the Mekong delta, which supplies most of Vietnam's exports and faces upstream dams, subsidence and salt intrusion at once.


## Key companies

- Ebro Foods: miller, Spain, listed (BME: EBRO)
- KRBL Limited: miller, India, listed (NSE: KRBL)
- Riceland Foods: miller, United States
- Olam Agri: trader, Singapore
- Louis Dreyfus Company: trader, Netherlands
- Wilmar International: miller, Singapore, listed (SGX: F34)

## Timeline

- 1960: IRRI founded in the Philippines. The International Rice Research Institute became the breeding hub whose semidwarf varieties started the Green Revolution in rice. (https://60.irri.org/)
- 1966-11: IRRI releases IR8, the 'miracle rice'. A short, stiff-strawed variety that could take heavy fertilizer without lodging roughly doubled yields where it was adopted across Asia. (https://ricetoday.irri.org/ir8-a-rice-variety-for-the-ages/)
- 2008-04: Export bans by India and Vietnam drive Thai prices above $1,000 a tonne. FAO analysis attributes most of the 2007/08 price surge to export restrictions, not to a crop failure, and the episode still shapes how importers read Indian policy. (https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/PUBLICATIONS/Comm_Working_Papers/EST-WP32.pdf)
- 2008-04: Philippines tenders and panic buying at the peak of the crisis. The largest importer's emergency purchases showed how a few tenders can drain exporters' available cargo in weeks. (https://www.adb.org/features/has-world-learned-2007-2008-food-price-crisis)
- 2011-10: Thailand starts its rice pledging scheme. Paying farmers well above the market price pulled Thai rice off the export market and handed the number-one exporter position to India. (https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2013-08-07/thailand-crisis-in-thai-rice-pledging-scheme/)
- 2011-10: Chao Phraya floods inundate Thailand's central plain. The floods destroyed a large share of the main-season crop in the country that was then the world's largest exporter. (https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Grain+and+Feed+Update_Bangkok_Thailand_10-3-2011.pdf)
- 2021-07: Philippines approves Golden Rice for commercial planting. The first biosafety permit for a genetically engineered rice in Asia opened a regulatory path that other countries watch closely. (https://www.irri.org/news-and-events/news/philippines-becomes-first-country-approve-nutrient-enriched-golden-rice)
- 2022-09: India bans broken-rice exports and taxes other grades at 20%. The measures, prompted by a weak monsoon and smaller kharif area, cut off cheap feed-grade rice to China and Africa and marked the start of a two-year cycle of restrictions. (https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/india-india-grain-and-feed-update-october-2022)
- 2023-07: India bans exports of non-basmati white rice. Removing the largest exporter's main grade from the market lifted Thai and Vietnamese quotes to their highest since 2008 and hit African importers hardest. (https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/india-india-bans-export-non-basmati-white-rice)
- 2024-09: India lifts the white rice ban and later drops the minimum export price. Restored Indian supply pushed Asian FOB prices down through the following year and re-established India's export share. (https://www.ifpri.org/blog/india-lifts-export-restrictions-on-rice/)

## Frequently asked questions

### which country produces the most rice

India produced the most rice in 2024: 217.9 million tonnes of paddy, or 27% of the world's 819.8 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). China was second with 207.5 million tonnes. Both eat most of what they grow, so the largest producer is not automatically the largest exporter.

### which country exports the most rice

India was the largest rice exporter in 2024, with 30% of the $39.5 billion of world exports of rice (HS 1006, mostly milled) (CEPII BACI). Thailand and Pakistan followed. Because exportable surplus is concentrated in a few Asian countries, one exporter's policy can move prices for every importer.

### which country imports the most rice

Indonesia was the largest rice importer in 2024, taking 6.8% of world import value (CEPII BACI), ahead of Philippines and Saudi Arabia. Importers are scattered across Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Middle East, and several buy through government tenders that set visible benchmark prices.

### what is the price of rice today

The benchmark is Thai white rice with 5% brokens, FOB Bangkok. In August 2026 it was $471/t, up 26% from a year earlier (World Bank Pink Sheet). Vietnamese 5% brokens were $410.9/t and Thai 25% brokens $447/t. Retail prices add milling, packaging, freight and tariffs.

### why did rice prices spike in 2008

Between late 2007 and April 2008 India and Vietnam restricted exports while the Philippines and other importers bought in panic, and Thai prices roughly tripled. FAO's analysis found export bans, not a crop failure, explained most of the rise. The nominal high in the Thai 5% series was $907/t in April 2008 (World Bank Pink Sheet).

### is rice production measured as paddy or milled

FAOSTAT production is paddy, the grain still in its husk, and the 2024 world total was 819.8 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). Milled white rice weighs roughly two-thirds as much. Trade statistics and price quotes refer to milled rice, which is why production and export figures on this page are not directly comparable.

### what is the difference between 5% and 25% broken rice

The percentage is the share of broken kernels in the sample. Five percent brokens is a premium table grade; 25% brokens is a cheaper cargo grade common in West Africa; 100% brokens goes to feed, brewing and flour. In August 2026 Thai 5% was $471/t and Thai 25% $447/t (World Bank Pink Sheet).

### how much rice is in stock worldwide

USDA estimates world milled-rice stocks-to-use, ending stocks divided by consumption, at 36% for 2026/27, compared with 37% in 2025/26 (USDA PSD). A large part of those stocks sits in China and India and is not available to importers, so exporters' own stock positions matter more for prices.

## Sources

- FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products (QCL), 2024. License: CC BY 4.0 (FAO Statistical Database Terms of Use). https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL
- CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601), BACI HS22 V202601, fetched 6 September 2026. License: Etalab Open Licence 2.0. https://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=37
- World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), 2026-09-02, fetched 6 September 2026. License: CC BY 4.0. https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/commodity-markets
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD), 2026-09-06. License: Public domain (US Government work). https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/
- Harvest calendars (curated from USDA FAS IPAD crop calendars and FAO GIEWS country briefs), curated 2026-09. License: Public domain (USDA) with FAO GIEWS cross-reference (attribution). https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/ogamaps/cropcalendar.aspx

Text last reviewed 2026-09-05. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "Where does rice come from?", https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/rice/.