Rice farming spans global commodity markets, household food systems and highly local production environments. The statistics below distinguish milled rice from unmilled paddy, local marketing years from trade years, and country totals from project or survey observations.
Key Rice Farming Statistics
The following figures provide a compact overview of scale, use, trade, resilience and farm-level outcomes:
- In the 2020/21 local marketing year, world milled-rice production was 509.419 million metric tons.
- In the 2023/24 local marketing year, world milled-rice production was 522.645 million metric tons.
- In 2023/24, China produced 144.620 million metric tons of milled rice.
- In 2023/24, India produced 137.825 million metric tons of milled rice.
- In 2023/24, world rice consumption and residual use was 524.157 million metric tons.
- In 2023/24, China’s rice consumption and residual use was 148.115 million metric tons.
- In the 2023/24 trade year, world rice exports totaled 58.531 million metric tons.
- In the 2023/24 trade year, India exported 17.300 million metric tons of rice.
- In the 2023/24 trade year, Sub-Saharan Africa imported 16.485 million metric tons of rice.
- In the 2023/24 local marketing year, world ending rice stocks were 179.108 million metric tons.
- In 2023/24, China held 103.000 million metric tons of ending rice stocks.
- In Ghana, average rice yield rose from 4.5 to about 5.5 metric tons per hectare from 2017 to the reported post-intervention result.
- The Ghana irrigation schemes supplied water to 7,391 hectares during the reported project period.
- Almost 250,000 rice farm households in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta adopted the 1M-5R program during the reported project period.
- In Huaiyuan County, China, a climate-smart rice package increased yields by 22% during the reported project period.
- In selected irrigated lowland Sub-Saharan African systems, reported net profit was US$909 to US$1,036 per hectare.
- In Central Luzon, Philippines, wet-season paddy yield rose from 2.3 to 3.9 tons per hectare between 1966 and 2011.
- In Central Luzon, Philippines, dry-season paddy yield rose from 1.8 to 5.8 tons per hectare between 1967 and 2012.
Contents
- Key Rice Farming Statistics
- Global rice production statistics and leading countries
- Rice consumption and food-use data
- Rice farming trade statistics
- Rice stocks and regional supply resilience
- Rice yields, irrigation and climate-smart practices
- Long-run rice productivity and farm-income trends
Global rice production statistics and leading countries
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service estimates put world milled-rice production at 509.419 million metric tons in 2020/21 and 522.645 million metric tons in 2023/24. These are local marketing-year estimates reported on a milled basis, so they should not be compared directly with paddy-yield observations.
The leading 2023/24 producing countries were concentrated in Asia:
| Geography | Milled-rice production, 2023/24 | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| China | 144.620 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| India | 137.825 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| Bangladesh | 37.000 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| Indonesia | 33.020 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| Vietnam | 26.300 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| Thailand | 20.000 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
| United States | 6.931 million metric tons | USDA estimate, local marketing year |
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Grain: World Markets and Trade, December 2024. The USDA figures are estimates and use a milled-rice basis.
Rice consumption and food-use data
USDA’s consumption category combines consumption and residual use, so it is broader than a narrowly defined household food-consumption measure. In 2023/24, the world total was 524.157 million metric tons of milled rice, while China’s total was 148.115 million and India’s was 116.396 million.
| Geography | Consumption and residual use, 2023/24 |
|---|---|
| World | 524.157 million metric tons |
| China | 148.115 million metric tons |
| India | 116.396 million metric tons |
| Bangladesh | 37.600 million metric tons |
| Indonesia | 36.100 million metric tons |
| Vietnam | 22.400 million metric tons |
| Philippines | 16.600 million metric tons |
| United States | 4.943 million metric tons |
These figures are USDA estimates for the 2023/24 local marketing year and remain on a milled basis. The source category includes residual use, which limits interpretation as a direct measure of edible household consumption.
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Grain: World Markets and Trade, December 2024.
Rice farming trade statistics: exports and imports
International trade uses a different time basis from the production, consumption and stocks series. USDA reports these trade figures for the 2023/24 trade year, while the production-related figures above use local marketing years.
World rice exports totaled 58.531 million metric tons in the 2023/24 trade year. Export activity included:
- India exported 17.300 million metric tons.
- Thailand exported 10.000 million metric tons.
- Vietnam exported 9.000 million metric tons.
- Pakistan exported 6.000 million metric tons.
- The United States exported 3.170 million metric tons.
Import demand was substantial in several markets and regions:
- The Philippines imported 5.300 million metric tons.
- Indonesia imported 4.100 million metric tons.
- China imported 1.400 million metric tons.
- Sub-Saharan Africa imported 16.485 million metric tons.
- Southeast Asia imported 15.317 million metric tons.
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Grain: World Markets and Trade, December 2024. Trade-year estimates are not the same basis as local marketing-year production.
Rice stocks and regional supply resilience
World ending rice stocks were estimated at 179.108 million metric tons in 2023/24. China held 103.000 million metric tons and India held 42.000 million metric tons, while Indonesia held 5.720 million and the Philippines held 3.603 million metric tons.
| Geography | Ending stocks, 2023/24 local marketing year |
|---|---|
| World | 179.108 million metric tons |
| China | 103.000 million metric tons |
| India | 42.000 million metric tons |
| Indonesia | 5.720 million metric tons |
| Philippines | 3.603 million metric tons |
Regional production estimates show that rice farming is not limited to Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa produced 22.913 million metric tons in 2023/24, South America produced 16.859 million, and North America produced 7.081 million metric tons of milled rice.
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Grain: World Markets and Trade, December 2024. Stocks and production are USDA estimates on a milled basis and use the local marketing year.
Rice yields, irrigation and climate-smart practices
Project evidence shows how water control and farm-management packages can be associated with different outcomes in specific places, but these observations are geographically bounded. In Ghana, average rice yield in the reported schemes rose from 4.5 metric tons per hectare in 2017 to about 5.5 metric tons per hectare after irrigation-resilience interventions.
The Ghana schemes provided irrigation water to 7,391 hectares and were cropped by 2,835 smallholders; women represented 41% of those smallholders. Less than 3% of Ghana’s cultivated land was estimated to be irrigated, while estimated irrigable land ranged from 360,000 to 1.9 million hectares, a wide range from differing assessments and not a rice-specific total.
Source: World Bank, Delivering Irrigation for Enhanced Productivity and Climate Resilience in Ghana. The yield comparison is project-specific and not a randomized national estimate.
Other reported project results include:
- Almost 250,000 rice farm households in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta adopted the government’s 1M-5R program during the reported project period.
- In Huaiyuan County, Anhui, China, a climate-smart rice package increased yields by 22%.
- The same China project reduced rice-related greenhouse-gas emissions by about 2.9 metric tons of CO2e per hectare.
- Fertilizer use fell by 30% and water use fell by 38% in that project.
Source: World Bank, Greening the rice we eat. These are project-reported outcomes from the named locations, not universal estimates for China or Vietnam.
Selected Sub-Saharan African farm systems show the importance of production environment:
| System | Rice area per household | Yield | Reported net profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irrigated lowland | 1.0–1.2 hectares | 4–5 tons/hectare | US$909–US$1,036/hectare |
| Rainfed lowland | 1.3–2.3 hectares | 1.4–3.0 tons/hectare | US$223–US$526/hectare |
| Rainfed upland | 1.8 hectares | 1.6–1.8 tons/hectare | US$376/hectare |
The ranges come from selected environments and cited study results summarized in a 2025 World Bank report. Currency and costing methods are study-specific, and the results do not represent all Sub-Saharan African rice farms.
Source: World Bank, Progress and Lessons from Irrigation Development over the Past Decade.
Long-run rice productivity and farm-income trends
The Central Luzon Loop Survey provides a long-running local view of rice farming in the Philippines. Wet-season paddy yield increased from 2.3 tons per hectare in 1966 to 3.9 tons per hectare in 2011, while dry-season paddy yield rose from 1.8 tons per hectare in 1967 to 5.8 tons per hectare in 2012.
| Central Luzon observation | Earlier period | Later period |
|---|---|---|
| Wet-season paddy yield | 2.3 tons/hectare in 1966 | 3.9 tons/hectare in 2011 |
| Dry-season paddy yield | 1.8 tons/hectare in 1967 | 5.8 tons/hectare in 2012 |
| Children graduating from secondary or tertiary education | 18% | 65% over the survey period |
Paddy is unmilled rice, so these yields are not directly comparable with USDA milled-rice production totals. The observations are wet- and dry-season results from Central Luzon, not annual national averages for the Philippines.
The same survey records a major change in household income composition. Rice income represented 68% of family income in the 1960s and 86% in the 1970s, but 17% in the 2000s; in that first decade of the 21st century, off-farm income represented 34% and remittances 28%.
Source: IRRI Rice Today, The Central Luzon Loop Survey: Rice farming in the Philippines from 1966 to 2021. These are survey-reported comparisons for Central Luzon rice-farm families, not national income estimates.