Ample rice supplies from top exporters Thailand and Vietnam will ensure prices of Asia's main staple remain in check early this year, sparing at least one food item from record high prices that have raised fears of unrest.

While U.S. wheat and corn futures climbed around 50 percent in 2010 on adverse weather in key producing regions, the benchmark Thai rice dropped 13 percent during the year, with sufficient supplies to meet the global demand.

The top ten rice exporting countries are as follows.

All figures are in thousand metric tons.

Country 2010*
Thailand 8,500
Vietnam 6,500
Pakistan 3,800
India 2,200
Cambodia 850
Uruguay 700
China 600
Egypt 600
Argentina 500
Brazil 400

The top ten rice importing countries are as follows.

Country 2010*
Philippines 2,600
Nigeria 1,700
Iran 1,150
Saudi Arabia 1,100
Iraq 1,100
Malaysia 1,020
Cote d'Ivoire 860
South Africa 800
Indonesia 800
Brazil 800

(Reuters)