Rye is a cereal grain and member of the grass family. Rye is most widely grown in northern Europe and Asia.
World rye production in 2006-2007 fell by 14.7% year/year to a new record low of 12.384 million metric tons.
However, it increased in year 2009/10 with 17.216 million metric tons.
Major producers are Russian, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the United States, Canada, France, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Argentina, China and Turkey.
The world’s largest producers of rye are the European Union with 59% of world production.
Japan is the world largest rye importer , accounting for about a third of world imports.
In all rye producing countries more than 50 per cent of the grain is used in animal feed, but it is also important in human nutrition.
Like wheat and barley, the hull is removed from the rye grain before human consumption, and the grain are employed whole or cracked, or are ground into flakes or flour.
Rye is used for making so-called black bread including pumpernickel, although the bread can vary in color because rye flour may be mixed with that of wheat which lightens the color and adds gluten.
Rye world production
