Iraq's rice imports forecast at 2M tons

Shafaq News- Washington

Iraq is expected to import two million tons of rice in the 2026–2027 marketing year, unchanged from the previous year's estimate, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released on Monday.

Figures from the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service showed that Iraq's rice imports reached 2.181 million tons in 2024–2025, up from 2.125 million tons in 2023–2024 and 1.845 million tons in 2022–2023.

Globally, rice trade is projected to rise to 63.125 million tons in 2026–2027, compared with 61.345 million tons in 2025–2026.

India is expected to remain the world's largest rice exporter, shipping 25 million tons, followed by Vietnam with 8 million tons, Thailand with 7.5 million tons, and Pakistan with 5 million tons.

The Philippines is projected to lead global rice imports at 5.6 million tons, followed by Vietnam with 4 million tons, China with 3.3 million tons, and Nigeria with 2.9 million tons.