China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of rice in the global economy. It accounts for 30% of total world production and consumption. Except for Japan and the Republic of Korea, rice yields in China are the highest in Asia (about 6.5 t/ha in the last 3–4 years), due in part to favorable growing conditions and the widespread adoption of hybrids. China is second to India in total rice area. Rice area harvested has continued to decline from its peak of 37 million ha in the mid-1970s to just over 31 million ha in 1995 to about 30 million ha in 2010. The decline in area has been due to both economic reforms that reduced government requirements to grow rice and economic development that increased the opportunity cost of land. In recent years, much of the decrease in rice area has occurred in coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang. Hunan is the largest rice-producing province, and most rice production is in the Yangtze River Valley (or farther south) where ample supplies of water are available. However, rice production in northern China has increased substantially in recent years, with its share of national production doubling from 7.5% in 1995 to 15% in 2009. Much of this increase has come from Heilongjiang and the other two northeastern provinces of Jilin and Liaoning, but production has also expanded noticeably in Henan and Shandong.