Increasing stably in the recent years, the rice production of the world has reached 470 million tons in 2012/13 season. However only 35-40 million tons of this production is subjected to the trade as a great part of the rice production is consumed in the regions where the production is made. The largest exporter countries in the world in 2012/13 season are India and Thailand; the largest importers are China and Nigeria. It is estimated that the gene center of rice that is quite an old cultivar is India and China in Southeast Asia. It is presumed that the first rice cultivation started to be made in 3000s B.C. and it entered to Europe in 300 B.C., to the American continent at the end of the 17th century and to Turkey approximately 500 hundred years ago. Although it has small amount of protein in itself, rice is the second mostly used grain product after wheat in human nutrition as it is rich in amino acids necessary for nutrition. Besides it is the main nutritional source of more than half of people in the world. Being the only cereal type that can germinate in the water and growing by using the oxygen dissolved in the water, rice has an important place in most of the countries’ agriculture including Turkey in terms of that it can be grown in saline and alkaline lands, it is effective on land reclamation of them and it helps obtaining economic efficiency from these lands. However a great part of world rice production is made in tropical and temperate zones that provide the growing conditions. Grain plantation is made in a part of approximately 700 million hectares of world cultivation areas that is estimated nearly 1,5 billion hectare. Rice is planted on nearly 22 % of this area used for grain plantation (160.26 million hectares in 2011) and the rice amount obtained from this area has 28 % share in the total grain production. Most of the rice cultivation areas in the world are in Asian continent. China with 30 million ha, India with 45 million ha, Indonesia with 12 million ha, Bangladesh with 12 million ha, Thailand with 11 million ha are the Asian countries who have the rice cultivation area most. Only India, China and Indonesia have more than 50 % shares of world rice cultivation areas. WORLD RICE PRODUCTION AND LEADING PRODUCER COUNTRIES According to the report of IGC dated as 25th April 2014; the world rice production, which was 449 million tons in 2010/11 season, reached to 466 million tons with an increase of 17 million tons in 2011/12 season. Estimating that world rice production in 2012/13 reached to 471 million tons with an increase of 5 million tons compared to the previous season; IGC foresees a 4 million-ton (475 million tons) increase for 2013/14 season. Considering on country basis, it is seen that an important part of world rice production is made by China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam. According to the USDA data; 248 million tons of 471 million-ton rice production in 2012/13 season is made by China and India (143 million tons by China, 105 million tons by India). Indonesia with 36,5 million tons, Bangladesh with 333 million tons, Vietnam with 27,5 million tons and Thailand with 20,2 million tons follow these two countries. When the IGC data about the period-end stocks is analyzed; the stocks that were 100 million tons in 2010/11 season and 107 million tons in 2011/12 season are estimated to reach to 110 million tons in 2012/13 season. The foresight of stocks for 2013/14 season is 111 million tons. Asian countries realize the 89 % of world rice plantation and 90 % of the production. Among these countries People's Republic of China has the 19 % of world rice plantation and 30,4 % of the production. According to the FAO and USDA data; China ranks first in the world rice production. India ranks second in the world with a share of 22,1 %. The productivity of paddy rice obtained from per unit area is continuously increasing in the worldwide. According to 2009 data; the world rice production in 2009 increased % 45 compared to 1980 and % 15 compared to 1990. World rice average productivity is 420 kg/da. Corn ranks first with 954 kg/da in terms of productivity. Japan and USA follow corn with 670/750 kg/da. In Turkey the productivity rate to decare is above the world average and it is 778 kg/da according to FAO and official figures. The rice production in the world is between 430 and 460 million tons annually. WORLD RICE CONSUMPTION AND MAJOR CONSUMER COUNTRIES While wheat is consumed as the essential nutrient in the countries like Turkey, the essential nutrient in Asian countries is rice. Realizing the 90 % of world rice production, these countries consume a great part of their productions in the domestic market. In the report of IGC dated as 25th April June 2014; the rice consumption, which was 445 million tons in 2010/11 season and 459 million tons in 2011/12 season, is stated to reach 468 million tons in 2012/13 season. According to this; world rice consumption has made an increase of 9 million tons in 2012/13 season compared to the previous season. The world rice consumption foresight of IGC for 2013/14 season points a 7 million-ton increase. According to this; in 2013/14 season world rice consumption will reach 475 million tons. USDA data is almost at the same level with IGC data. According to the report of USDA; China ranks first in rice consumption with 143 million tons as well as production. India with 105,2 million tons, Indonesia with 36,5 million tons, Bangladesh with 33,8 million tons and Vietnam with 27,5 million tons follow China. When the consumption amounts are analyzed, it is seen that 52,6 % of world rice consumption is realized by China and India. WORLD RICE TRADE 35-40 million tons, in other words 7-8 %, of world rice production is subjected to the international trade. The main reason of this small amount subjected to the international trade is that as it is mentioned above, Asian countries who make the large amount of production also are the main consumers of that production. According to the last report of IGC; international rice trade that was 36 million tons in 2010/11 season reached 39 million tons in 2011/12 season. Showing that world rice trade declined 1 million tons and decreased to 38 million tons in 2012/13 season, IGC report foresees that world rice trade will reach to 39 million tons with an increase of 1 million tons in the new season. Thailand is the country exporting rice the most. However Thailand lost its power in export to India and Vietnam in 2011/12 season. Rising to the top in the world rice export with a 10,4 million-ton figure in 2011/12 season, India continued to this leadership in 2012/13 season. Falling behind Vietnam in the rice export of 2011/12 season, Thailand rose again in 2012/13 season and ranked second after India with over 6,5 million tons of export. In 2012/13 season Vietnam with 6,7 million tons, Pakistan with 3,6 million tons and USA with 3,2 million tons follow Thailand. Country ranking in the world rice export is foreseen to remain at the same level in 2013/14 season. The most interesting point in world rice export is that USA who realizes only 1,3 % of world total rice production, realizes 8-9 % of world rice export as well. It is considered that the success of its export-oriented production’s defense of lowering down the customs barriers in favor of global companies is effective on USA’s realizing more export with less production. Placed at the top in world rice import with a figure of 3,4 million tons in 2010/11 season, Nigeria lost his leadership to China in 2012/13 season. China got a share of 9 % in world rice import with the 3,5 million-ton import in 2012/13 season. Nigeria with 2,4 million tons, Iran with 2,1 million tons, European Union, Côte d'Ivoire, and Iraq with 1,3 million tons per each follow China. It is foreseen that China will keep its leadership in world rice import with a figure of 3,2 million tons in 2013/14 season. When the rice import is analyzed regionally, it is seen that Africa and Middle East are on the top. The regions called as Sub-Saharan Africa are placed on the top of world rice import with 10,7 million-ton import in 2012/13 season. Middle East ranks second with 6,8 million-ton import. East Asia and Southeast Asia follow Africa and Middle East in world rice import. RICE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN TURKEY Rice is not an essential nutrient for Turkish people but it is a product that its consumption and production shows an increase from year to year. As a country with only self-sufficiency potential in paddy rice production, Turkey is on its way becoming a self-sufficient country in rice with the ever-increasing production amount in the coming years. The most important reason of the increase in rice production in Turkey is the productivity that has increased significantly in the last 10 years. When the data of Turkish Statistical Institute is analyzed, it is seen that the productivity increase in paddy rice between 2001 and 2012 years is around 40s %. The paddy rice productivity that was 6,03 kg/da in 2001, reached 9,05 kg/da in 2012. Regressing significanlty in 2013, the productivity stayed at 7,35 level. Activating the production of “Osmancık-97” type developed by the efforts of Thrace Agricultural Research Institute in 2000 has an important effect on the productivity increase. Only Osmancık-97 type is grown in more than 80 % of total paddy rice cultivation areas in Turkey. The rice production of Turkey was 100 thousand tons and the consumption per capita was around 3,2 kilograms in 1980s. In 2012 the production increased to 528 thousand tons and the consumption per capita increased more than doubled to 8-9 kg (The total annual consumption of rice is approximately 600 thousand tons). According to the data of Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK); making paddy rice cultivation in 1.197 thousand-decare area in 2012, Turkey realized 900 thousand tons paddy rice production (approximately 540 thousand tons of rice). It is estimated that in 2013, the production was 880 thousand tons paddy rice (approximately 528 thousand tons rice) by showing a decrease of 2,2 % compared to the previous year. The Marmara Region is the most important cultivation and production region with 67 % cultivation and 72 % production shares. Black Sea Region follows it with 20 % cultivation and production share. The total production of these two regions meets more than 90 % of national production. Thrace Region and especially Edirne province meet nearly 40 % of Turkey’s production and cultivation by itself. Balıkesir and Çanakkale are the other important paddy rice producer provinces in Marmara Region. Samsun, Çorum and Sinop are the most important paddy rice producer provinces in Black Sea Region. RICE INDUSTRY IN TURKEY It is estimated that there is an installed capacity that can meet 2,5 million tons paddy rice in Turkey. It is known that more than 120 paddy rice mills operating in Turkey processed 700 thousand tons paddy rice (the produced and imported amounts are included) by operating with 30 % capacity in 2009. It is stated that today there are nearly 150 paddy rice mills in Turkey and the installed capacities of these mills are highly above the country needs. Although there are lots of mills and installed capacities, establishing new mills still continues. It is also stated that some newly established mills have the capacity that can process over 100 thousand tons paddy rice. These mills operate in full capacity for 6 months at most. In the remaining 6 months, most of the mills are closed or operate under capacity. This large amount of the paddy rice mills is considered as a great luxury for Turkey. TURKEY’S RICE IMPORT AND EXPORT However Turkey has significant increases in paddy rice productivity and production in the recent years, it still cannot meet its domestic consumption. That’s why some amount of the needed rice is imported from abroad. But the recent capacity increases in paddy rice mills and paddy rice tariff’s being advantageous in terms of the industry cause the import switching from rice to paddy rice. This situation is clearly seen when the data of Turkish Rice Millers Association. While 185 thousand tons of rice and 5,5 thousand tons of paddy rice were imported in 2007, 125,6 thousand tons of rice and 409 thousand tons of paddy rice were imported in 2010. In 2011 277 thousand tons of paddy rice and 41 thousand tons of rice were imported. Although the rice export of Turkey has shown high increases, it has a little share (86 thousand tons in 2012 and 6 thousand tons in 2013) in world rice trade with a 38-39 million-ton amount. However being in good condition of the machinery and equipment of the paddy rice mills in Turkey in terms of capacity and technical knowledge is seen an advantage for export. Because these mills have high potential in terms of importing paddy rice from abroad, processing this in their country and then exporting to the foreign market. But it is stated that some legislative changes that pave the way for the industry should be made. USA, Egypt, Italy and Russian Federation are the major countries exporting to Turkey. The mostly rice exported country is Syria according to 2010 data. Iraq, Jordan and Sudan follow Syria.