After corn and wheat, rice is the third most important crop in the world. Rice growth requires high rainfall and abundant supply of water. Domesticated rice first originated from the Yangtze River basin in China and has since developed into a staple food source for large parts of Asia, Latin America and West Indies. Rice provides 20% of global calorie intake.

Rice is such an important source of staple food for large parts of the world that it is not frequently used for other industrial means. Rice as starch can be used to make ice cream, pudding, gel and in the distillation of alcohol such as the famous rice wine in Japan and Korea. Rice is also used in making edible oil, soaps, fatty acids, cosmetics, paper and board manufacturing.

Major rice producing countries in the world are mainly in Asia which accounted for over 90% of total rice production. The top rice producers in the world are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Brazil and Japan.

Since majority of the large rice producing countries are also the main rice consuming countries, most of the rice produced in the world are consumed domestically. Less than 10% of the rice produced worldwide is traded on the international market. Also, due to the sensitive nature of food security in Asia, most of the domestic rice markets are heavily controlled by the government. The top three rice exporters in the world are Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.

The trading of rice futures dates back to the 17th Century in Japan and is probably the oldest known futures commodity. Today, rough rice is traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) under the RR ticker symbol.