International rice trade has expanded rapidly over the last five decades, increasing almost fourfold between the 1960s and the early 2000s. This increase in trade out- paced growth in world rice production, and thus trade as a share of total production rose from 4.4% to 6.9% over this period. Moreover, this increase in trade occurred in spite of sharp increases in production in most major rice-consuming countries, as rice consumption has also expanded due to rising population and incomes.