Rice Trade of the Mainland Southeast Asian Countries: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam

Abstract

Rice is a staple crop providing food self-sufficiency and security to more than 182 millions of people in the Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also an important commodity for domestic and international trade. As an economic commodity, rice plays a major role in international trade by bringing foreign currency revenues to rice exporting countries and food supply to meet the demand of rice deficit nations. As a political commodity, rice has been used to influence the market price artificially and create social, economic, and political instability, such as the global rice crisis in 2008.