rice on world markets this general upward trend in grain prices led to panic buying by consumers, government rice export bans (in particular, by Vietnam and India) and inflated import orders by the Philippines marketing board, the National Food Authority. This caused significant rises in rice prices. In late April 2008, prices hit 24 US cents a pound, twice the price of seven months earlier. Over the period of 2007 to 2013, the Chinese government has substantially increased the price it pays domestic farmers for their rice, rising to per metric ton by 2013. The 2013 price of rice originating from other southeast Asian countries was a comparably low per metric ton. On April 30, 2008, Thailand announced plans for the creation of the Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC) with the intention that this should develop into a price-fixing cartel for rice. However, little progress had been made to achieve this. Worldwide consumption , world food consumption of rice was of paddy equivalent ( of milled equivalent), while the largest consumers were China consuming of paddy equivalent (28.7% of world consumption) and India consuming of paddy equivalent (23.1% of world consumption). Between 1961 and 2002, per capita consumption of rice increased by 40% worldwide. A paper from the Korean Society of Crop Science anticipated that consumption would increase to 590 million tons by 2040, and that consumption would decline in Asia and increase in other parts of the world. Rice is the most important crop in Asia. In Cambodia, for example, 90% of the total agricultural area is used for rice production. Per capita, Bangladesh ranks as the country with the highest rice consumption, followed by Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. U.S. rice consumption has risen sharply over the past 25 years, fueled in part by commercial applications such as beer production. Almost one in five adult Americans now report eating at least half a serving of white or brown rice per day. Environmental impacts Climate change The worldwide production of rice accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in total than that of any other plant food. It was estimated in 2021 to be responsible for 30% of agricultural methane emissions and 11% of agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. Methane release is caused by long-term flooding of rice fields, inhibiting the soil from absorbing atmospheric oxygen, a process causing anaerobic fermentation of organic matter in the soil. A 2021