plate 330

Thailand lost the top rice supplier spot in 18 countries

Biggest supplier of milled rice (HS 100630) by import value, 2017–18 vs 2023–24, 140 importers.

Trade rewired
  1. 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
  2. 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
  3. 3. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
  4. 4. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
  5. 5. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
  6. 6. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
  7. 7. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
  8. 8. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
  9. 9. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
  10. 10. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
  11. 11. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
  12. 12. China now buys more from Brazil than from Germany
  13. 13. Kazakhstan now sells Russia more than Germany does
  14. 14. China fell to third among America's suppliers in 2025
  15. 15. America overtook China as Taiwan's biggest export market
  16. 16. Mongolia's coal exports hit a record 90 million tonnes
  17. 17. Viet Nam's ports now handle more containers than Japan's
  18. 18. Liberia overtook Panama as the biggest flag by ship capacity
  19. 19. Nickel made Indonesia the world's fifth-biggest iron and steel exporter
  20. 20. Mexico again hosts more US investment than China
  21. 21. Mexico replaced China as America's top computer supplier
  22. 22. France fell from first to third among Côte d'Ivoire's suppliers
  23. 23. Wigs are nearly half of what North Korea sells China
  24. 24. Viet Nam overtook China as Morocco's top smartphone supplier
  25. 25. China became the top electric car supplier in 21 countries
  26. 26. Indonesia became America's biggest solar panel supplier
  27. 27. 21 countries now buy more from China than from Russia
  28. 28. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
  29. 29. Morocco's container ports grew fastest of the world's top 40
  30. 30. China now supplies almost two-thirds of lithium-ion battery imports
  31. 31. 13 countries made India their biggest medicine supplier
  32. 32. China passed Denmark as top supplier of imported wind turbines
  33. 33. Thailand lost the top rice supplier spot in 18 countries
  34. 34. UAE-based shipowners tripled their fleet and entered the top ten
30 → 17

Importers whose biggest rice supplier was Thailand, 2017–18 vs 2023–24. It lost the top spot in 18, from Senegal and Cameroon to Malaysia and Australia, and gained it in 5.

12 of 18

Switched to India, which went from top supplier in 28 importers to 47. Four switched to Viet Nam, one each to Myanmar and Brazil.

Interpretation

Thailand still leads in South Africa, the US and Hong Kong and took Indonesia from Viet Nam, but eight African importers now buy most from India.

Source: UN Comtrade, imports of milled rice (HS 100630) by partner, as reported by each importer, 2023–24
the numbers & method
Thailand lost the top rice supplier spot in 18 countries. Source: UN Comtrade, imports of milled rice (HS 100630) by partner, as reported by each importer, 2023–24.
CountryValue (%)
ZAF74.6
TUN69.3
MAC68.3
SLV61.6
HKG60.9
BRN57.3
USA54.7
COD54.6
LAO51.9
ARM47.6
IND47.4
AGO46.8
SEN45.7
IDN37.1
CMR34.7
CPV33.2
COG32.7
ISR31.5
PYF31.4
MEX31.1
JPN30.7
ISL30.6
AUS30.0
SGP29.7
MOZ28.3
NOR27.6
CHN26.7
CAN26.4
SWZ24.2
KHM23.8
NZL23.6
CHE23.5
DZA22.1
BEL21.6
MYS18.5
TGO17.9
ITA16.7
NER16.2
DOM14.9
GAB14.3
FRA12.9
PHL12.7
BRA12.4
FJI12.2
NLD12.2
UZB11.4
TUR11.1
MRT10.7
MLT10.6
BEN9.4
IRL9.4
GBR9.3
JAM9.2
LBN9.2
MAR8.8
SWE8.6
NAM8.1
STP8.1
CYP8.0
ESP7.8
BFA7.4
POL7.3
BWA7.0
ZMB6.8
AUT6.4
CIV6.3
TTO5.7
DNK5.5
GHA5.1
GTM5.1
KAZ5.1
KOR4.8
PRT4.8
LUX4.7
PSE4.6
CZE4.5
EGY4.5
PAN4.4
GEO4.2
PER4.1
LTU3.9
FIN3.8
SRB3.7
UKR3.4
COM2.9
DEU2.6
VNM2.6
MDV1.9
BHR1.6
JOR1.6
ARE1.5
BIH1.5
CRI1.5
KWT1.4
LVA1.3
SAU1.3
MUS1.2
SVN1.1
KEN1.0
AZE0.9
QAT0.9
OMN0.8
ZWE0.7
LKA0.6
CHL0.5
COL0.5
MNG0.5
TLS0.5
RWA0.4
YEM0.4
KGZ0.3
ALB0.2
LBR0.2
MLI0.2
ARG0.1
CAF0.1
ABW0.0
BGR0.0
BHS0.0
BOL0.0
BTN0.0
EST0.0
ETH0.0
GRC0.0
HND0.0
HRV0.0
HUN0.0
IRN0.0
LSO0.0
MDA0.0
MDG0.0
MNE0.0
MWI0.0
NIC0.0
ROU0.0
SVK0.0
SYC0.0
TJK0.0
UGA0.0
WSM0.0

Claim types Fact · Interpretation

UN Statistics Division, UN Comtrade, HS 100630 (rice, semi-milled or wholly milled), annual imports by partner, current US$, as reported by each importing country; read from the UN Comtrade API via the progrss vault (§4.11, un-comtrade passes value_checks). Two-year averages (2017–18 and 2023–24, average of the years each importer reported) smooth one-year swings. Set: the 140 economies (Thailand excluded) that imported at least US$1 million a year on average in both periods; the vault holds each reporter's world total and its ten largest partners. Top supplier = largest partner by value; an importer's own re-imports are not counted, and hub economies that re-export (Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UAE, Panama) and 'Areas nes' are not counted as origins (they are counted as importers). Thailand top in 2017–18 (30) and lost it by 2023–24 (18, yellow): Angola, Australia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Rep., Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Senegal, Singapore, Viet Nam (to India); Gabon, Malaysia, French Polynesia, Togo (to Viet Nam); Spain (to Myanmar); Cabo Verde (to Brazil). Gained (5): Belgium, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Tunisia. Broken rice (HS 100640), which much of West Africa buys in larger volumes, is a separate code and not counted here. India restricted exports of non-basmati white rice from July 2023 to September 2024, inside the later window. In 2025, a year with fewer reporters, Thailand led in 14 and India in 34. Map colour: yellow = the 18 importers that dropped Thailand as top supplier; hover shows Thailand's share of each importer's 2023–24 rice imports (0 = not among its ten largest suppliers). Partner is the origin as recorded by the importer; exporters' own figures can differ. Counts and shares are progrss calculations. African importers that switched to India (8): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Rep., Morocco, Niger, Senegal. Close calls: Belgium 2017–18 (Italy 14.2m vs Thailand 14.1m US$), Senegal 2023–24 (India 25.5m vs Thailand 24.4m), Angola 2023–24 (India 121.0m vs Thailand 114.1m).

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