Asian food is measured through several different lenses: human consumption, table rice, feed use, stocks, trade, prices, diet affordability and agricultural support. The figures below make those definitions explicit, spanning country estimates, regional assessments and global outlooks from 2010 through 2030.
Key Asian Food Statistics
The most quotable figures in this overview are:
- In 2016, Thailand averaged 106 kg of table-rice consumption per person per year.
- In 2016, South Korea’s estimated table-rice consumption was 61.9 kg per person.
- In 2015, Japan’s estimated yearly rice consumption was 54.6 kg per person.
- In 2013, China’s estimated annual rice consumption was 77 kg per person.
- In 2013, global rice feed use was estimated at 33.6 million metric tons.
- In 2013, feed use represented 6.7% of total global rice use.
- From 2003 to 2013, global rice feed use grew by an average 0.5 million metric tons per year.
- In the USDA ERS assessment published in 2018, China held almost 70% of world rice stocks.
- China’s rice ending stocks were forecast to exceed 95 million metric tons in 2018/19.
- Thailand’s government rice stocks reached 12.8 million metric tons in marketing year 2012/13.
- World rice trade was projected at about 46 million metric tons in 2022.
- Asian exporters were projected to export 31–36 million metric tons in 2022.
- Asian rice consumption was projected to supply close to two-thirds of the increase in global demand through 2030.
- During April–July 2022, real food inflation was in the 0%–2% band in most East Asia and Pacific economies.
- In the cited 2020 assessment, more than 99% of East Asia and Southeast Asia’s population could afford a calorie-sufficient diet.
- In that same 2020 assessment, less than 50% of Southeast Asia’s population could afford a healthy diet.
- In developed East Asia, staples supplied about 25% of calories per capita in the World Bank’s chart using FAO/OECD data.
- In South and Southeast Asia, fish supplied about 7% of calories per capita in the same chart.
- Between 2010 and 2020, 40%–70% of agricultural budget support went to direct subsidies and irrigation in selected East Asian countries.
Contents
- Rice consumption across major Asian countries
- Rice production, feed use and stocks
- Asian rice trade statistics and outlooks
- Asian food prices and diet affordability
- How Asian diets are diversifying beyond rice
- Agricultural support and food-security outcomes
Rice Consumption Across Major Asian Countries
Rice consumption figures are not interchangeable. South Korea and Thailand figures refer to table rice, Japan’s series has a different definition, and China’s FAO-based estimate uses another national accounting basis.
| Geography | Period | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea | 2016 | 61.9 kg table rice per person |
| Japan | 2015 | 54.6 kg rice per person |
| Thailand | 2016 | 106 kg table rice per person |
| China | 2013 | 77 kg rice per person |
Source: USDA ERS, Rice in Asia’s Feed Markets. These are estimates or reported averages with different definitions, not a perfectly comparable ranking.
South Korea’s estimated annual table-rice consumption was 61.9 kg per person in 2016. The source reported a 1.6% decline from 2015 to 2016 and a 14.8% decline from 2011 to 2016, with the comparisons applying to table rice only.
Japan’s estimated yearly rice consumption was 54.6 kg per person in 2015. The source described a decline of almost 2% from 2014 to 2015 and 6% from 2011 to 2015; its definition differs from South Korea’s table-rice series.
Thailand’s average annual table-rice consumption was 106 kg per person in 2016. China’s annual per-person rice consumption was estimated at 77 kg in 2013, which the source said was 1% higher than in 2009.
Asian Rice Production, Feed Use and Stocks
Production and stock statistics describe the rice system beyond meals. Feed rice, human food use, government-held stocks and ending stocks are separate measures.
The global feed-use series provides a useful scale marker:
- FAO estimated global rice feed use at 33.6 million metric tons in 2013, equal to 6.7% of total global rice use.
- From 2003 to 2013, global rice feed use grew by an average 0.5 million metric tons per year, or an average annual rate of 1.7%.
- China’s rice feed use was estimated to increase from 2.9 million metric tons in 1961 to 12 million metric tons in 2013.
- A report cited an estimate that China used about 10% of its rice, including byproducts, for feed, while noting uncertainty around Chinese data.
China held almost 70% of world rice stocks in the USDA ERS assessment published in 2018, although Chinese government stocks are difficult to gauge. Its rice ending stocks were forecast to exceed 95 million metric tons in 2018/19; this was a forecast, not a final observed figure.
Thailand’s government rice stocks reached 9.3 million metric tons in marketing year 2011/12 and 12.8 million metric tons in 2012/13, a source-reported 27% increase. A Ministry of Finance audit estimated 17.5 million metric tons in September 2014, and about 43% of that audited stockpiled rice was unfit for domestic and export human consumption.
South Korea, Japan and Thailand had stocks-to-use ratios above the FAO-recommended 20% level in the report’s recent assessment through 2018/19. A 20% ratio corresponds to approximately 75 days of use.
Source: USDA ERS, Rice in Asia’s Feed Markets. Stock estimates and feed-use figures carry the source’s stated uncertainty and period limits.
Asian Rice Trade Statistics and Outlooks
Trade projections show how production, consumption and self-sufficiency assumptions interact. They are outlook figures, not interchangeable with final customs observations.
| Measure | Period | Outlook figure |
|---|---|---|
| World rice trade | 2022 | About 46 million metric tons |
| Asian exporters | 2022 | 31–36 million metric tons |
| Five major Asian importers, OECD-FAO | 2022 | Around 7 million metric tons |
| Same five importers, USDA outlook | 2022 | 11 million metric tons |
The five importers are the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and China; the alternative totals reflect different self-sufficiency assumptions. Asian exporters in the projection are Thailand, Viet Nam, India, Pakistan, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The FAO strategy projected world rice trade at about 46 million metric tons in 2022, or 8.2% of consumption. That was 8–9 million metric tons above the projection for 2013, when rice trade represented 7.5% of consumption.
Sub-Saharan Africa was projected to account for about 30% of 2022 rice trade, with imports of 13–14 million metric tons. This is a global trade context rather than an Asia-specific demand measure.
A GRiSP-based outlook put global rice consumption at 439 million metric tons in 2010, projected 496 million metric tons for 2020 and 535 million metric tons for 2030. The FAO strategy also reported alternative 2030 demand outlooks ranging from 503 to 544 million metric tons, while projecting that Asian consumption would account for close to two-thirds of the increase in global demand through 2030.
Source: FAO, A regional rice strategy for sustainable food security in Asia and the Pacific. The 2020 and 2030 values are projections in the cited outlook series.
Asian Food Prices, Inflation and Diet Affordability
Food affordability depends on what “affordable” means. A calorie-sufficient diet is not the same as a healthy diet that meets nutrient requirements and helps prevent malnutrition.
During April–July 2022, real food inflation was in the 0%–2% band in most East Asia and Pacific economies. The source presented this as a band classification rather than a single regional average.
The region was also exposed to global commodity and input markets. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus together represented 16% of world cereal exports, mainly wheat, 10% of world exports of animal and vegetable fats or oils, and 21% of world fertilizer exports in the pre-2022 crisis context.
In the cited 2020 assessment, more than 99% of the populations of East Asia and Southeast Asia could afford a calorie-sufficient diet. Yet less than 50% of Southeast Asia’s population could afford a healthy diet under the assessment’s broader nutrient and malnutrition criteria.
The World Bank-cited model estimated that export restrictions introduced during the 2010–11 food-price spike accounted for 40% of the increase in world wheat prices and 25% of the increase in world maize prices. These are model-based attributions, not observed causal decompositions.
Source: World Bank, From Food Security to Nutrition Security in the East Asia and Pacific Region. The diet-affordability results use the cited 2020 assessment and should not be generalized to every Asian country.
How Asian Diets Are Diversifying Beyond Rice
The World Bank report’s chart, using FAO/OECD data, groups populations rather than describing every country separately. The values below are approximate visual readings and show calorie shares, not quantities of food purchased.
| Grouped population | Staples | Meat | Dairy | Fish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developed East Asia | About 25% | About 15% | About 10% | About 5% |
| South and Southeast Asia | About 30% | About 10% | Not specified in supplied figure | About 7% |
Developed East Asia in the chart includes Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Staples supplied about 25% of calories per capita, meat about 15%, dairy about 10% and fish about 5%.
For South and Southeast Asia, the chart showed staples at about 30% of calories per capita, meat at about 10% and fish at about 7%. The grouped regional categories mean these approximate shares should not be read as a country-by-country diet profile.
Source: World Bank, From Food Security to Nutrition Security in the East Asia and Pacific Region.
Asian Agricultural Support and Food-Security Outcomes
Public support and input dependence shape both food availability and resilience. The available figures cover selected countries and particular support or feed categories, rather than all agricultural spending or all Asian economies.
Between 2010 and 2020, 40%–70% of agricultural budget support went to direct subsidies and irrigation in examples from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. The range applies across selected countries and support categories.
Japan held 910,000 metric tons of domestically produced rice as regular contingency reserves in the report published in 2018. It also purchased approximately 200,000 metric tons of the domestic new rice crop each year for reserves; the measure is in brown-equivalent rice.
Thailand’s feed industry relied on imports for 50%–60% of total feed in the cited 2017 assessment. Over the three years before that assessment, Thailand imported an average 29% of its soybeans from the United States, 20% of its soybean residues from the United States and 2% of its corn from the United States.
These figures describe feed-industry import dependence and U.S. origin shares, not human-food import dependence. They also show why rice stocks, feed inputs, trade exposure and diet affordability need to be kept as separate measures when interpreting Asian food statistics.
Sources: USDA ERS, Rice in Asia’s Feed Markets and World Bank, From Food Security to Nutrition Security in the East Asia and Pacific Region.