60 Staple Food Statistics

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These staple food figures cover the measurement periods and populations identified in the available source material. Estimates, surveys and forecasts retain their reported scope.

Key Staple Food Statistics

The main findings are:

  • Global production of primary crops reached 9.3 billion tonnes in 2020 (world).
  • World rice consumption was 525.5 million tonnes in the Outlook baseline (2021–2023 average).
  • Global rice beginning stocks were 183.7 million tonnes in 2022/23 in USDA’s June 2024 balance sheet (world).
  • World rice harvested area was 166.3 million hectares in the Outlook baseline (2021–2023 average).
  • Cereals supplied 41% of calories in the OECD–FAO Sub-Saharan Africa food-use figure for 2021–2023.
  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was estimated at 92 parts per billion in white rice (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; rice products evaluated by FDA).
  • Global primary-crop production increased 52% between 2000 and 2020 (2000–2020; world).
  • World rice consumption is projected at 539.1 million tonnes in 2024.
  • Global rice production was 515.8 million tonnes in 2022/23 in USDA’s balance sheet (world).
  • World rice harvested area is projected at 168.0 million hectares in 2024.
  • Cereals supplied 42% of proteins in the OECD–FAO Sub-Saharan Africa food-use figure for 2021–2023.
  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was estimated at 154 parts per billion in brown rice (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; rice products evaluated by FDA).
  • FAOSTAT agricultural-production coverage spans 199 countries (data through 2020; FAOSTAT coverage).
  • World rice consumption is projected at 587.6 million tonnes in 2033.
  • Global rice total supply was 699.5 million tonnes in 2022/23 (world).

Contents

Staple food statistics: global crop production and cereal scale

The reported world rice production is projected figures cover world.

Measurement period World rice production is projected (million tonnes)
2024 541.1 million
2033 586.6 million
2031 577.0 million

Source: Cereals: OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2024-2033.

FAOSTAT agricultural-production domain; primary crops, not all foods.

FAO comparison of primary-crop production totals.

Coverage count describes the dataset, not a country-comparable production outcome.

Outlook baseline estimate; rice production series uses the report’s commodity definition.

OECD–FAO projection, not a final observed harvest total.

OECD–FAO long-range projection.

OECD–FAO projection.

Outlook consumption aggregate includes the report’s defined uses.

OECD–FAO projection.

Food use is a defined component of total consumption, not a household survey of servings.

Feed use is not human staple-food consumption.

USDA domestic-and-residual-use projection; not solely direct human food intake.

Rice supply, trade and stock statistics

USDA PSD balance-sheet estimate, milled basis.

Includes beginning stocks and production under USDA’s balance-sheet definition.

Trade-year imports; includes imports not assigned to a specific country.

USDA consumption-and-residual-use balance-sheet item.

Trade-year exports under USDA’s PSD definition.

USDA balance-sheet ending stocks.

USDA June 2024 projection.

USDA projection relative to the prior carry-in estimate.

Staple cereal land, yield and price outlook statistics

OECD–FAO harvested-area series.

OECD–FAO projection.

OECD–FAO yield estimate.

Reference price, not a retail or household price; report uses its defined rice price index.

Reference price projection, not a consumer price.

Reference price projection; marketing-year and deflator conventions apply.

Staple food nutrition and food-use statistics

Regional food-use composition, not an individual dietary survey.

Regional food-use composition, not measured intake by individuals.

Outlook composition projection; figure labels are regional food-use shares.

Outlook composition projection.

OECD–FAO projection; food use is not a direct consumption survey.

Rice safety and arsenic exposure statistics

  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was estimated at 92 parts per billion in white rice (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; rice products evaluated by FDA). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was estimated at 154 parts per billion in brown rice (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; rice products evaluated by FDA). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was 119 parts per billion in dry infant brown-rice cereal (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; dry infant brown-rice cereal samples). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • Mean inorganic arsenic concentration was 104 parts per billion in dry infant white-rice cereal (FDA sampling used in 2016 assessment; dry infant white-rice cereal samples). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • The estimated mean concentration of DMA in infant rice cereal was 77 parts per billion (FDA risk assessment). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • The highest mean concentration used for DMA exposure in rice grain and rice products was 131 parts per billion (FDA risk assessment). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • FDA modeled 39 lung and bladder cancer cases per million people for lifetime per-capita exposure to rice grain and rice products (lifetime exposure model; U.S. population). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • FDA modeled 74 to 184 cancer cases per million for one average serving of different rice products per day over a lifetime (lifetime, one serving per day; U.S. population model). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • Eliminating rice grain and rice products during infancy could reduce modeled lifetime cancer risk by approximately 6% (infancy, under 1 year; U.S. population model). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • Eliminating rice grain and rice products during childhood could reduce modeled lifetime cancer risk by approximately 23% (childhood, ages 0–6; U.S. population model). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • A 100-parts-per-billion inorganic-arsenic limit was modeled to reduce predicted cancer risk by approximately 2% to 47%, depending on rice type (FDA scenario analysis; U.S. population model). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • A 75-parts-per-billion limit was modeled to reduce predicted cancer risk by approximately 17% to 79%, depending on rice type (FDA scenario analysis; U.S. population model). (Arsenic in Rice and Rice…)
  • 47% of infant rice-cereal samples collected from retail stores in 2014 met FDA’s proposed 100-parts-per-billion action level (2014 sampling; U.S. retail infant rice cereal). (FDA proposes limit for inorganic…)
  • 78% of infant rice-cereal samples were at or below 110 parts per billion inorganic arsenic (2014 sampling; U.S. retail infant rice cereal). (FDA proposes limit for inorganic…)
  • FDA tested more than 400 samples of other foods commonly eaten by infants and toddlers, and found all non-rice foods below 100 parts per billion inorganic arsenic (FDA infant-food testing; foods commonly eaten by U.S. infants and toddlers). (FDA proposes limit for inorganic…)

Sampling-based mean; applies to tested products and the assessment’s analytical scope.

Sampling-based mean; not a universal concentration for all brown rice.

Sample mean from FDA assessment; product-specific and not a population exposure estimate.

Sample mean from FDA assessment.

DMA is an organic arsenic species; this is not the inorganic-arsenic concentration.

Assessment input for DMA exposure, not a universal product concentration.

Modeled risk with a 90% confidence interval of 0–79; not an observed cancer count.

Product-specific modeled range; reported confidence intervals extend from 0 to 157 and 0 to 444 for the endpoints.

Scenario analysis, not a recommendation to eliminate a food group.

Scenario analysis, not an observed intervention result.

Modeled regulatory scenario; range varies by rice type.

Retail sample result; not a national market prevalence estimate.

Retail sample result; threshold differs from the proposed 100-ppb action level.

The sample count is included as context; the substantive result is the below-100-ppb finding and it does not establish zero arsenic.

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