Rice moves to areas where incomes are rising'

After 1800, an international market in rice became established. Rice was exported from Bengal to Europe but, as the century progressed, it was replaced by rice from Burma. This was increasingly diverted to Asia, to Ceylon and the Straits Settlements where Indian workers preferred those qualities of rice. Siam and French Indo-China simultaneously emerged as major exporters to Asia, their supplies being of a quality preferred by Chinese communities. In all these exporters, the rice was produced by peasant capitalist farmers. The main destination for Saigon and Bangkok rice was Singapore, Batavia, Manila, and Hong Kong. From Hong Kong, the rice was trans-shipped into China (Latham and Neal, 1983; Latham, 1988).