ABSTRACT

China, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Bangladesh consume some 70 per cent of world rice production, most of it long grain (FAO 1991, p. 2). To them must be added Korea, Taiwan and Japan, who consume short grain rice. There are also the Pacific countries of South America. The basic diet in Peru is rice and potatoes, and Chile too is an important rice consumer, as is Mexico. Apart from their own harvest, these countries have to import rice and most of their supplies come from other parts of America: Argentina, Uruguay and the United States. Brazil, the largest rice consumer in America, also obtains supplies from the same sources (Grain 1996 October, pp. 10-16; December, pp. 13-15; 1997 March, pp. 8-10; Latham 1998, pp. 88-92). That South America is rice-dependent is surprising because the rices she consumes are not indigenous. In exchange for giving maize and potatoes to the world she obtained rice. The fact that both South America and East Asia are rice-dependent has important economic implications for the Pacific region.