WORLD AND REGIONAL RICE SITUATION

This article will discuss on the world and regional rice situation. Rice is considered a very important to many countries as staple food. The World Rice Situation In 2017, the United Nations estimated the global population to reach 7.5 billion, with the biggest proportion in Asia. As rice is the staple food for most countries in Asia, the region consumes more than 80% of the world’s rice. In fact, the world’s five largest rice producers are also the world’s five largest rice consumers, namely China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Future demand for rice is expected to rise from the already high level of rice consumption as the population continues to grow. As such, countries in Asia have always been concerned with acquiring an adequate supply of rice at the back of this increasing demand. This is further motivated by concerns of spikes in rice prices which were shown to be correlated with social unrest.

Regional Rice Situation For the past century, the Southeast Asia (SEA) region has been the centre of the world’s rice economy13. In 2016, this region contributed 16m MT (39.9%) of the world’s rice exports14, with Thailand and Vietnam being the region’s top exporters. Thailand contributed up to 24.5% of the world’s total export of rice, while Vietnam and Cambodia contributed 12.9% and 1.3% respectively. Despite the high exports of rice recorded by the SEA region, not all South East Asia countries are rice exporters. Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are net importers. In 2016, Indonesia imported 3.4% of the world’s total rice import while Malaysia and the Philippines’ share of imports stood at 2.2% and 1.2% respectively. The Malaysian preferred jasmine rice for their importation from various country. 

Indonesia is the largest producer and consumer of rice. The country has the biggest rice harvested area which is 19.8 times larger than Malaysia and is close to being 100% self-sufficient. The country also has the highest producer price, which increased drastically following the world rice crisis in 2007/2008. Although Thailand is still one of the main exporters of rice, over the last five years the country has seen a decline in production and total rice harvested area. Malaysia, relative to the other SEA countries, has shown an almost constant trend for rice production, harvested area and even rice SSL, but has the second highest average annual growth of rice yield at 1.6% after Vietnam at 1.8%, from 2000 to 2016. Vietnam has been an exceptional case, whereby it has shown the highest growth in rice production and SSL at the back of a relatively slower increase in paddy land area. For the Philippines, since the 1990s, it has shown a gradual increase in production and harvested area with SSL hovering below 100%. Thanks.

By,

M Anem,

Senior Agronomist,

Taman Cendana, Bandar Melaka,

Melaka, Malaysia.

(30 Syaaban 1440H).