From April 1999 to April 2000, the world's
rice production stayed at approcimately 595 million metric
tons. In 2001, the world production is forcast to decline
to 591.8 million metric tons.
Source: USDA, Grain Department
This graph illustrates
that China, India, and Indonesia remain the world's top three
rice producers in the year 2000 (April). These top three ranks
are projected to continue for the year 2001.
China and India, whose populations are also the world's first
and second largest, consume most of the rice domestically. As
a result, although the total rice production in both China and
India are the highest, most of the trade take place domestically.
