According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, rice cereal makes up 52% ​​of the total volume of cereal consumption on the national market.

Buckwheat takes the second place in terms of consumption; this crop occupies only 21% of the total cereal volume, and the third and fourth places are occupied by semolina (7%) and oatmeal (6%), respectively.

Paradoxically, with such great popularity of rice, its production volumes are falling. Last year, only 69.2 thousand tons of rice were harvested, which is 1 ton less than last year's figure of 70.2 thousand tons.

The reasons for the decline in rice production are the negative dynamics of gross harvest, low productivity, as well as a small number of fields that would be suitable for cultivating this crop. All this directly indicates the dependence of the Ukrainian market on imported rice.

At the same time, despite the difficult situation, in general, production and foreign purchases of rice in Ukraine remain at the level of previous years.

In Ukraine, rice in significant quantities began to be cultivated after 1917 on primitive rice systems in the spills of the Southern Bug, Dniester, Ingulets and Dnieper. In the year 1926, Koreans introduced Japanese high-yielding varieties. But, the lack of a drainage network and a crop rotation system led to the fact that the soil in the sown areas was saline, swampy and clogged weeds. Because of this, there was a sharp reduction - up to 9-10 centners per hectare of rice yield. By 1960, Ukraine ceased cultivating this culture.

The resumption of rice cultivation began in 1961, with the start of operation of the Krasnoznamensk, North Crimean and Ingulets irrigation systems.