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Visualizing the World’s Biggest Rice Producers

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Visualizing The World’s Biggest Rice Producers

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Visualizing The World’s Biggest Rice Producers

It’s hard to overstate the importance of rice to the world.

As a staple food, over half of the global population depends on the crop as a major part of their diet. In fact, rice is considered a vital part of nutrition in much of Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean, and is estimated to provide more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

This graphic highlights the world’s 10 biggest rice-producing countries, using 2019 production data from the UN’s FAOSTAT and the USDA.

Which Countries Produce the Most Rice?

With 756 million tonnes produced globally in 2019, rice is the world’s third-most produced agricultural crop behind sugarcane and corn (maize), which both have a wide variety of non-consumption uses.

Just 10 countries are responsible for a bulk of global rice production:

CountryTonnes Rice Produced (2019)% of Total
China211.4M28.0%
India177.6M23.5%
Indonesia54.6M7.2%
Bangladesh54.6M7.2%
Vietnam43.4M5.7%
Thailand28.3M3.7%
Myanmar26.3M3.5%
Philippines18.8M2.5%
Pakistan11.1M1.5%
Brazil10.4M1.4%
Others119.0M15.8%
Total755.5M100.0%

At the top of the charts are China (#1) and India (#2), which produced 389 million tonnes combined, accounting for more than half of global production.

They’re significantly ahead of #3 and #4 countries Indonesia and Bangladesh, which produced around 54.6 million tonnes each. Almost all of the top producers are located in Asia, with the exception of Brazil (#10).

Feeding A Growing World

With 84% of rice being harvested in just 10 countries, it’s clear that many countries globally must rely on imports to meet domestic demand.

In 2019, India, Thailand, Pakistan, and Vietnam were large net exporters of rice, shipping out nearly $16 billion of rice combined. Other countries including Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines consume above production numbers and rely on imports to meet their needs.

And not everything makes it from plant to table. In developing countries especially, estimates of 8–26% of rice are lost due to postharvest problems and poor infrastructure.

As the global population continues to grow, rice will continue to be a key source of calories around the world—and as our diets change, it’ll be interesting to see how that role shifts in the future.

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Agriculture

Visualizing the Global Coffee Trade by Country

Which countries export, and import, the most coffee? This visual highlights the global coffee trade by export flows in 2019.

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charting the global coffee trade by export flows in 2019.

Visualizing the Global Coffee Trade by Country

From drip coffees to decadent lattes, every cup of coffee begins its journey from the humble coffee bean. A massive global coffee trade moves these beans from farms in one country to cafes in another.

In this piece, Airi Ryu uses data from Chatham House’s resourcetrade.earth to track the global trade of unroasted and non-decaffeinated coffee beans in 2019, highlighting the world’s top coffee exporters and importers.

The Biggest Exporters in the Global Coffee Trade

Close to 84% of the world’s coffee bean exports come from just 10 countries.

All these countries are found in the “Bean Belt” between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where coffee grows best. These top coffee-producing nations include Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia.

Here are the top coffee exporting nations in 2019:

RankCountryCoffee Exports (Tonnes)Share of Total
1🇧🇷 Brazil2.20M28.9%
2🇻🇳 Vietnam1.44M18.9%
3🇨🇴 Colombia0.77M10.1%
4🇭🇳 Honduras0.44M5.8%
5🇮🇩 Indonesia0.34M4.5%
6🇺🇬 Uganda0.26M3.4%
7🇪🇹 Ethiopia0.25M3.3%
8🇵🇪 Peru0.23M3.0%
9🇮🇳 India0.23M3.0%
10🇬🇹 Guatemala0.22M2.9%
n/a🌍 Others0.83M11.0%
n/a🌍 Others (re-export)0.40M5.2%

The South American nations of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru export nearly 42% of the global coffee beans. Brazil exported over 2.2 million tonnes in 2019 alone, more than a quarter of the global coffee trade.

Across the Pacific, Vietnam and Indonesia together exported 23.4% of the world’s coffee beans in 2019. Other major exporters include the Central American nations of Honduras and Guatemala, which combined for 8.7% of global coffee bean exports, and the African nations Uganda and Ethiopia with 6.7% combined.

Biggest Coffee Bean Importers, By Country

On the other side of the global coffee trade are nations with high demand for coffee dominating import shares. Many of these importing nations also re-export coffee beans to other parts of the world under their own local brands.

Here are the top coffee importing nations in 2019:

RankCountryCoffee Imports (Tonnes)Share of Total
1🇺🇸 U.S.1.47M19.3%
2🇩🇪 Germany1.08M14.2%
3🇮🇹 Italy0.63M8.3%
4🇯🇵 Japan0.43M5.7%
5🇧🇪 Belgium0.31M4.1%
6🇪🇸 Spain0.29M3.5%
7🇫🇷 France0.21M2.7%
8🇨🇦 Canada0.20M2.6%
9🇬🇧 United Kingdom0.18M2.4%
10🇷🇺 Russian Federation0.18M2.4%
n/a🌍 Others2.36M34.7%

The U.S. is the largest importer of coffee beans in the world, bringing in 1.5 million tonnes of unroasted coffee beans in 2019, equivalent to 19.3% of all exports that year. While Brazil and Colombia are its biggest sources of coffee, beans imported from Asia and Central America also thrive thanks to a strong specialty coffee culture.

Europe is also a massive destination for coffee bean exports. Germany led the way with 14.2% of global coffee imports, while Italy accounted for 8.3%.

A brewing coffee culture in Japan has made the country a major player in the global coffee trade. In 2019, Japan was the fourth-largest coffee bean importer in the world and far and away the leading importer in Asia.

As the desire for coffee continues to permeate throughout the world, and as climate change puts a strain on coffee production (and vice versa), the flows of coffee beans are sure to change in the coming decades.

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