Have the UN report on European rice.
FAO - TWENTY-FOURTH FAO REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR EUROPE
Rice is not a major food crop in Europe. However, rice consumption has steadily increased during the last decade. The cost of rice production in Europe remains relatively high making competition with imported rice difficult. In addition, concern over the negative effects of rice production on the environment and biodiversity has continued to increase. However, the rice-based production systems in Europe have a number of opportunities for sustainable development.
US rice exports account for half of their production
<Quick back of envelope calculation>
so roughly US exported rice has ten times the market size than EU exported rice. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
After a lot of dredging around, in which Eurostat was f---ing useless and the FAO not much good, I found a note from EC Trade (pdf) that contains a good summary re EU rice.
With an average yearly production of approximately 2 million tonnes out of a total world production of about 400 million tonnes and an average yearly consumption of 2 million tonnes out of global consumption of over 400 million tonnes, the EU is neither a leading world producer nor a major consumer of rice. Asia is both the leading producing area and the major consumer.
Here's the import/export balance:
Rice is imported mainly from India, Thailand, USA, and Pakistan, and exported to Turkey, Switzerland, UA Emirates, Norway... and small amounts to Mediterranean countries other than Turkey.
Rice-sector reform of the CAP has recently resulted in increased imports, reduced exports. The USDA's Rice Yearbook 2008 (pdf) gives EU 25 exports at 150,000 tons a year, with US exports at 3.3 to 3.4 million tons a year (table p. 88). So a ratio of roughly 1:23.
