A coding apparatus that can have a plurality of macro blocks processed concurrently macro blocks. The apparatus includes a plurality of macro block processing sections for coding moving picture data concurrently on a macro block by macro block basis, each macro block processing section being adapted to select a position or a region out of a plurality of regions produced by dividing a picture by a predetermined number of rows, detect a processable macro block by sequentially retrieving the macro blocks of the selected region according to a predetermined scanning sequence and code the detected processable macro block.