Total production in 1999 was an estimated 588.7 million tonnes of unmilled, rough rice. Rice is predominately grown in the humid and sub-humid tropics of Asia, where rice cultivation is the primary human activity.
Rice is one of the cheapest and most plentiful sources of food energy and protein.
Rice is the staple food of the majority of Asian population, which has grown from about 1.7 billion in 1961 to about 3.5 billion in 1997. Rice ranked as the first major food consumed in Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The total population of these countries in 1997 was 2.94 billion. Rice is primarily consumed where it is produced. Because the world market is thin and volatile, most countries in Asia cannot depend on rice imports to meet the food needs of domestic populations.