Rice is measured through several different lenses: crop area and yield, supply balances, domestic use, trade, prices and food-safety outcomes. The figures below distinguish world marketing years, calendar-year trade, U.S. crop and marketing years, OECD-FAO projections, and FDA sample-based risk estimates.
Key Rice Statistics
The most broadly useful rice statistics include:
- In the 2025 marketing year, world rice production was 541,277 thousand metric tons on a milled basis.
- In the 2025 marketing year, world rough rice production was 808,768 thousand metric tons.
- In the 2025 marketing year, the world harvested rice area was 172,159 thousand hectares.
- In the 2025 marketing year, world rice yield was 4.6978 metric tons per hectare.
- In the 2025 marketing year, world total rice supply was 732,495 thousand metric tons.
- In the 2025 marketing year, world domestic rice use was 540,957 thousand metric tons.
- In the 2025 marketing year, world ending rice stocks were 191,538 thousand metric tons.
- In the 2025 marketing year, the world rice stocks-to-use ratio was 31.9253 percent.
- In calendar year 2025, world rice exports totaled 62,530 thousand metric tons.
- From the 2020 to 2025 marketing years, world milled-basis rice production increased from 509,391 to 541,277 thousand metric tons.
- For the 2025 crop year, the United States harvested 2.740 million rice acres.
- For the 2025 crop year, U.S. all-rice yield was 7,544 pounds per acre.
- For the 2025 crop year, Arkansas harvested 1.250 million rice acres.
- In the 2025 marketing year, U.S. all-rice production was 206.707 million hundredweight.
- In the 2025 marketing year, the U.S. all-rice season-average farm price was $12.10 per hundredweight.
- The OECD-FAO Outlook projects world rice production of 586,606 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with a 526,414-thousand-metric-ton 2021-23 average.
- The OECD-FAO Outlook projects world rice exports of 64,225 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with 53,891 thousand metric tons in 2021-23.
- FDA sampling estimated mean inorganic arsenic at 92 parts per billion in white rice and 154 parts per billion in brown rice.
- FDA-cited research found that cooking rice in six to ten parts water to one part rice can reduce inorganic arsenic by 40 to 60 percent.
Contents
- Global rice production, area and stocks
- Rice production geography, acreage and yields
- Rice supply, use and consumption outlook
- Rice trade, prices and market structure
- United States rice production, use and prices
- Rice safety and cooking outcomes
Global Rice Production, Area and Stocks
The USDA Economic Research Service reports world supply and utilization mainly by August-July marketing year. Its 2025 marketing-year estimates show the scale of rice production and the difference between rough and milled measurement bases.
| World measure | 2025 marketing year | Definition or note |
|---|---|---|
| Harvested area | 172,159 thousand hectares | World total |
| Milled-basis production | 541,277 thousand metric tons | Milled measure |
| Rough rice production | 808,768 thousand metric tons | Rough-production measure |
| Yield | 4.6978 metric tons per hectare | World total |
| Total supply | 732,495 thousand metric tons | Includes beginning stocks and production on the series basis |
| Domestic use | 540,957 thousand metric tons | Not household-only consumption |
| Ending stocks | 191,538 thousand metric tons | Balance-sheet estimate |
Source: USDA ERS, World rice supply and utilization, 1960/61 to present. These are marketing-year estimates, and rough and milled production are different bases.
The same USDA ERS series puts the world stocks-to-use ratio at 31.9253 percent in 2025. That ratio is a stock/use indicator, not the share of production held in stocks.
World rice exports totaled 62,530 thousand metric tons in calendar year 2025, a trade measure using a different period from the August-July supply balance. For comparison across the series, milled-basis production rose from 509,391 thousand metric tons in the 2020 marketing year to 541,277 thousand metric tons in 2025.
Rice Production Geography, Acreage and Yields
U.S. crop statistics illustrate why planted area, harvested area, production and yield should not be treated as interchangeable. USDA ERS estimated 2.812 million acres planted and 2.740 million acres harvested in the 2025 crop year, with all-rice yield at 7,544 pounds per acre.
| U.S. location or measure | 2025 figure | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| United States planted area | 2.812 million | acres |
| United States harvested area | 2.740 million | acres |
| United States all-rice yield | 7,544 | pounds per acre |
| Arkansas harvested area | 1.250 million | acres |
| Arkansas production | 93,449 thousand | hundredweight |
| California yield | 8,450 | pounds per acre |
| Louisiana planted area | 482 thousand | acres |
| Missouri production | 15,867 thousand | hundredweight |
| Texas yield | 7,730 | pounds per acre |
Source: USDA ERS, U.S. rice acreage, production, and yield. All figures are 2025 crop-year estimates and use the all-classes or all-rice measures specified by the source.
Arkansas therefore appears in the data as a major U.S. rice-producing geography by harvested area and production, while the state yield observations show how regional performance is reported separately. The table should not be read as a ranking because the observations use different units and measures.
Rice Supply, Domestic Use and Consumption Outlook
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook separates an estimated 2021-23 base average from projections for 2033. Its world production projection is 586,606 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with 526,414 thousand metric tons for the 2021-23 average.
| World rice measure | 2021-23 average | 2033 projection |
|---|---|---|
| Production | 526,414 thousand metric tons | 586,606 thousand metric tons |
| Imports | 54,085 thousand metric tons | 65,682 thousand metric tons |
| Exports | 53,891 thousand metric tons | 64,225 thousand metric tons |
Source: OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2024-2033: Statistical Annex. The 2021-23 values are an estimated base average, and 2033 values are projections.
The Outlook projects annual world production growth of 0.93 percent during 2024-33, while imports are projected to grow 2.31 percent annually and exports 2.37 percent annually. These are least-squares growth projections, not observed historical rates.
Regional and country projections show where the modeled supply outlook is concentrated:
- Asian rice production is projected at 523,738 thousand metric tons in 2033, up from 473,696 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average.
- Indian rice production is projected at 154,344 thousand metric tons in 2033, up from 131,408 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average.
- Thailand’s rice production is projected at 24,835 thousand metric tons in 2033, versus 22,228 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average.
Rice Trade, Prices and Market Structure
The OECD-FAO projections also identify important trade flows. Vietnamese rice exports are projected at 8,668 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with 7,299 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average, while Nigerian imports are projected at 4,043 thousand metric tons, compared with 2,330 thousand metric tons.
North American rice production is projected at 6,818 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with 5,992 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average. The region’s imports are projected at 2,225 thousand metric tons, versus 1,716 thousand metric tons, and exports at 2,862 thousand metric tons, versus 2,450 thousand metric tons.
The Outlook projects Indian rice exports at 20,089 thousand metric tons in 2033, compared with 19,403 thousand metric tons in the 2021-23 average. These figures are marketing-year projections, and the 2021-23 base includes an estimated 2023 value.
USDA ERS reports U.S. trade by rice class for the 2025 marketing year. Long-grain rice accounted for 54 million hundredweight of exports, while medium- and short-grain exports totaled 31 million hundredweight; imports totaled 45.7 million hundredweight, including 39 million hundredweight of long grain.
Source: USDA ERS, U.S. supply, disappearance, and stocks. Import quantities use the source’s rough-equivalent basis.
United States Rice Production, Use and Prices
For the United States, USDA ERS estimated 206.707 million hundredweight of all-rice production and 306.283 million hundredweight of total supply in the 2025 marketing year. Total domestic and residual use was 171 million hundredweight, a category broader than household food consumption, while ending stocks were 50.283 million hundredweight.
The U.S. all-rice stocks-to-use ratio was 19.642 percent in the 2025 marketing year. The season-average farm price was $12.10 per hundredweight for all rice, but this is a farm price rather than a retail price paid by consumers.
| U.S. price measure | 2025 figure | Period and unit |
|---|---|---|
| All-rice season-average farm price | $12.10 | Marketing year, dollars per hundredweight |
| Long-grain season-average farm price | $10.50 | Marketing year, dollars per hundredweight |
| Medium- and short-grain season-average farm price | $18.10 | Marketing year, dollars per hundredweight |
| All-class farm price received | $14.10 | August 2025, dollars per hundredweight |
| All-class farm price received | $13.00 | September 2025, dollars per hundredweight |
Sources: USDA ERS, U.S. supply, disappearance, and stocks and USDA ERS, U.S. rough and milled rice prices, monthly and marketing year. Farm prices are not retail prices.
Rice Safety, Exposure and Cooking Outcomes
FDA data describe sampled U.S. products and modeled exposure scenarios, not universal concentrations or personal risk. FDA estimated mean inorganic arsenic concentrations of 92 parts per billion in white rice and 154 parts per billion in brown rice.
For dry infant rice cereal, FDA estimated mean concentrations of 119 parts per billion in brown-rice cereal and 104 parts per billion in white-rice cereal. These are sample means, not a census of every product.
FDA’s 2016 risk assessment estimated lifetime lung-and-bladder cancer risk from all rice grain and rice products at 39 cases per million people for the U.S. population, with a 90% confidence interval of 0 to 79 cases per million. Modeling one average serving daily over a lifetime produced a range of 74 to 184 additional cases per million, depending on the rice product.
The same assessment modeled eliminating rice products during infancy as potentially reducing lifetime rice-related cancer risk by about 6 percent, and eliminating rice products from ages 0 through 6 as potentially reducing it by about 23 percent. These are counterfactual model scenarios, not observed intervention outcomes.
FDA-cited research found that cooking rice in excess water, using six to ten parts water to one part rice, can reduce inorganic arsenic by 40 to 60 percent. The FDA also says this method can reduce folate, iron, niacin and thiamine in enriched polished and parboiled rice by 50 to 70 percent, so the measured reduction varies by rice type and cooking method and may involve nutrient loss.
Sources: FDA, Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products Risk Assessment Report, FDA, What You Can Do to Limit Exposure to Arsenic, and FDA, final guidance on inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals. The FDA action level for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal is 100 micrograms per kilogram, equivalent to 100 parts per billion; it is a regulatory action level, not a claim that all products contain that concentration.