Among the eight countries used in the present study, China in 1990 has the highest rice production area, followed by Indonesia and Myanmar, where as the developed countries, USA and Australia, have relatively small areas devoted to rice production (Table 2). In 1990, about 147 million ha was planted with rice, with the majority occurring in developing countries (0-97). Between 1990 and 2006, global rice production area increased by 0-05 (decreasing by 0-088 in developed countries and increasing by0-054 in developing countries). Surprisingly, during this period, the rice production area in Australia decreased by 0-8—20000ha. This was largely due to prolonged drought that resulted in lower rice production and thus lower profits.