Paddy is a traditional food crop in Southeast Asia, and except for Singapore, the economies of Southeast Asian countries were originally based on agricultural production, and the state of agriculture is related to economic development and social stability.

Therefore, Southeast Asian countries generally attach importance to agricultural development. Paddy is a traditional food crop in Southeast Asia. By production, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines are the major paddy producers in Southeast Asia, and in 2020, Indonesia ranked first in Southeast Asian countries with 55.535 million tons of paddy production.

Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia are the main paddy exporters in Southeast Asia, while Brunei, Singapore and other countries basically rely on paddy imports, and countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia also need to import a large amount of paddy to meet domestic demand every year.

Cambodia, which is striving to promote the country as a “rice basket” and a major rice exporter, is aiming to ship at least one million tons of rice per year – 2023 onwards – and earn revenue of around $800 million annually from the export of milled rice and over $1 billion from value-added products made from rice.

The Kingdom is also looking at contributing to the huge global market of around 150,000 tons of rice products and earning $7,000 per ton revenue per year.

In 2021, paddy sales to neighbouring countries stood at 3.53 million tonnes.

Southeast Asia in this report includes 10 countries: Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia. With a total population of over 600 million by the end of 2021, Southeast Asia has an overall economic growth rate higher than the global average and is one of the key drivers of future global economic growth.

According to Research Report on Southeast Asia Paddy Industry 2023-2032, the economic levels of the 10 Southeast Asian countries vary greatly, with Singapore being the only developed country with a per capita GDP of about $73,000 in 2021. While Cambodia registered a GDP per capita of less than US$2,000 in 2021.

The population and minimum wage levels also vary greatly from country to country, with Brunei, which has the smallest population, having a total population of less than 500,000 people in 2021, and Indonesia, which has the largest population, having a population of about 275 million people in 2021.

The most economically advanced countries in Southeast Asia do not have a legal minimum wage, with the actual minimum wage exceeding $400 per month (for foreign maids), while the lowest minimum wage level in Myanmar is only about $93 per month.

Overall, the size of the paddy market in Southeast Asian countries has shown an upward trend in recent years, especially with the increase in population and economic development of each country, the demand for paddy will grow steadily.

According to the report, the Southeast Asian paddy industry is forecast to maintain growth from 2023-2032. On the one hand, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar are the world’s major paddy exporters, and the growth of global demand for food has boosted their paddy production and export scale.

On the other hand, the growth of population in Southeast Asia brings about the growth of paddy demand, and the economic development leads to the change of the type of paddy that people demand to high-quality paddy, which also promotes the development of the paddy industry in Southeast Asian countries.