A vendor, right, hands a plastic bag of rice to a customer at a roadside store in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, March 27, 2008. Cambodia's government appealed for calm Thursday as it rushed out a series of economic measures to address soaring food prices. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 March 2008
Rice prices in most markets showed no sign of decrease Thursday, following an emergency ban on exports Wednesday and soothing speeches by Prime Minister Hun Sen this week.
Prices were slightly down in Siem Reap province, vendors said.
A vendor at O'Russei Market in Phnom Penh, who only gave her first name, Sophy, said the rice price remained high on Thursday.
"The price of rice is still high, and now we have not yet heard of any falling prices," she said.
Hundreds of tons of state-sold rice across the country have been sold directly to consumers, but this too had little effect on market prices, albeit after only one day.
Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Thursday that the government can't reduce all the prices across Cambodia in a short amount of time, but the ministry had prepared hundreds of thousands of tons of rice to sell in markets where prices were significantly increasing.
Meanwhile, some rice exporters said Thursday they were concerned with the future of their businesses, following a two-month ban on exports issued Wednesday.
But many said they supported the national export ban, which was ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen and enacted by the Ministry of Commerce.
Kim Savuth, president of the Khmer Food Import Export Company, in Phnom Penh, said Thursday the government should not ban the export of all kinds of rice.
The highest quality rice enjoys a very high price on the international market, he said, and is a type of rice with little demand among common Cambodians.
"That kind of rice should be allowed for export," he said. "If not, it will reduce the income of exporters."
Prices were slightly down in Siem Reap province, vendors said.
A vendor at O'Russei Market in Phnom Penh, who only gave her first name, Sophy, said the rice price remained high on Thursday.
"The price of rice is still high, and now we have not yet heard of any falling prices," she said.
Hundreds of tons of state-sold rice across the country have been sold directly to consumers, but this too had little effect on market prices, albeit after only one day.
Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Thursday that the government can't reduce all the prices across Cambodia in a short amount of time, but the ministry had prepared hundreds of thousands of tons of rice to sell in markets where prices were significantly increasing.
Meanwhile, some rice exporters said Thursday they were concerned with the future of their businesses, following a two-month ban on exports issued Wednesday.
But many said they supported the national export ban, which was ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen and enacted by the Ministry of Commerce.
Kim Savuth, president of the Khmer Food Import Export Company, in Phnom Penh, said Thursday the government should not ban the export of all kinds of rice.
The highest quality rice enjoys a very high price on the international market, he said, and is a type of rice with little demand among common Cambodians.
"That kind of rice should be allowed for export," he said. "If not, it will reduce the income of exporters."
4 comments:
Of course it's still high. Nothing changes overnight. It will take 2-4 weeks to get the supply out, depending on location.
My beloved Khmers!
Samdech Hun SenVarman can simply or abruptively say whatever he pleases, unfortunately in the reality it's always gone to the opposite way. Therefore, we Khmer must repeatedly learn in the past that he is not the first person who will be dead, because like he has mockeringly said "Only the poor!" Thank you Samdech Hun SenVarman for decreasing the rice price?
Dear RFA,
When you stated the price is still high. Please kindly give the figure; otherwise it is not so convincing
get used to it. prices of commodities do fluctuate from time to time just like anything and everything else. there is nothing new. if one is keeping up with the news from around the world, so does homes' prices in the USA and gasoline prices as well. there are lots of home foreclosures in the market right now, and gas prices are high there as well and all over the world, so for rice prices in asia to be high is a normal phenomonen as asians eat rice and that dictates the supply and demand, thus affect the price as supply is lower than demand and it will be the opposite once demand is decreased with over supply, then one will see inflation again. so this kind of market fluctuation is proned to happen once in a while. i think understanding it will help calm the nerves a lot. thank you.
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