Washington
01 April 2008
Cambodia's position between two giant rice exporters, combined with a rising global demand for the staple, has played a big role in a national rice shortage and rising prices, an economist said Monday.
The government rolled out emergency measures last week to curb the rising price of rice, which was sparked in part by rumors of a rice shortage.
Both Vietnam and Thailand had been buying rice from Cambodia for further export, lowering the supplies of rice and raising its domestic price, Yong Sang Kumar, executive director of the Center of Education and Development of Cambodia said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."
"Because Cambodia is located between the two big rice export countries, Vietnam and Thailand, and because of the increase in rice demand in the world market, these two neighbors came to Cambodia to buy our rice to meet their demand," he said. "So they played a role in the rice shortage in Cambodia."
Cambodia was not the only country to deal with a rice crisis in recent weeks. Last week, the Philippines signed a deal with Vietnam to import more than a million tons of rice, and South Korea said it would have to auction off 50,000 metric tons of government-stored rice, to stabilize prices at home. On Monday, India announced it would limit rice exports to boost local stocks.
Kim Savuth, director of Cambodian National Mills Association, said on "Hello VOA" Monday the government's measures had proven positive.
"In general, I notice that the price of rice has gone down a little bit," he said. "Since Prime Minister Hun Sen’s appeal last week, people seemed to have calmed down. People who were stocking up on rice did not come back to buy any more."
Kim Savuth urged Cambodian farmers to reserve their rice crops to ensure that Cambodia would have enough rice to feed its population of 14 million people through the next harvest.
The Cambodian government should come up with an estimate on Cambodia's current rice at hand, to find whether there will be a shortage into December, Yong Sang Kumar said.
This would tell them what measures to take next, he added.
The government rolled out emergency measures last week to curb the rising price of rice, which was sparked in part by rumors of a rice shortage.
Both Vietnam and Thailand had been buying rice from Cambodia for further export, lowering the supplies of rice and raising its domestic price, Yong Sang Kumar, executive director of the Center of Education and Development of Cambodia said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."
"Because Cambodia is located between the two big rice export countries, Vietnam and Thailand, and because of the increase in rice demand in the world market, these two neighbors came to Cambodia to buy our rice to meet their demand," he said. "So they played a role in the rice shortage in Cambodia."
Cambodia was not the only country to deal with a rice crisis in recent weeks. Last week, the Philippines signed a deal with Vietnam to import more than a million tons of rice, and South Korea said it would have to auction off 50,000 metric tons of government-stored rice, to stabilize prices at home. On Monday, India announced it would limit rice exports to boost local stocks.
Kim Savuth, director of Cambodian National Mills Association, said on "Hello VOA" Monday the government's measures had proven positive.
"In general, I notice that the price of rice has gone down a little bit," he said. "Since Prime Minister Hun Sen’s appeal last week, people seemed to have calmed down. People who were stocking up on rice did not come back to buy any more."
Kim Savuth urged Cambodian farmers to reserve their rice crops to ensure that Cambodia would have enough rice to feed its population of 14 million people through the next harvest.
The Cambodian government should come up with an estimate on Cambodia's current rice at hand, to find whether there will be a shortage into December, Yong Sang Kumar said.
This would tell them what measures to take next, he added.
8 comments:
The government was caught unprepare. The price of rice, like other commodities, has been going up for months now in the world market. If Cambodian is between two major rice exporters, why is the CPP act surprise when the price went up. Don't the export office see rice quantities going out of the country more than normal? The only different last week was a panic buy follow by speculators who took advantage of the situation which aggrevated the problem further.
It is not an excuse to blame on the global market. No one on this planet live under a laissez fare capitalism. How can the CPP talk of creating a RICE OPEC, if they cannot manage this situation.
KS
economics 101, supply and demand knows no boundary, like most things on this planet. thank you.
Economics 101 4:34.
There is a "boundary" to both supply and demand. In the short run, capacity control how much supply are available. Farmers like factories cannot produce more if they reach 100 capacity unless they invest more in their factory or land or they can improve productivity, all of which take time.
Demand too has bound. As price go up, people will try to find substitutions. If rice goes up, wheat, corn, yam can substitute partially or totally. When you are poor and hungary yam is as good as rice.
KS
Sounds good to me, 5:03. I don't know what is with all the panic.
It is the job of goverment to correct when market fail or work inefficiently. Again there is no such thing as Laissez Faire. The US injected 100 of billion of dollars to stabilize the credit market for examples. It is easy for us the rich people to say "let them eat jam" but we might lose our heads like Marie Antoinette when she told the peasant to eat cake.
Hey, we already taken corrective action on the issue. Now you just have to wait for it to take effect, alright?
That's a good economic measure.
here's some ideas, how about diversify rice to other crops. people don't have to eat rice all the times. there are many substitutes for rice like corns, patotoes, yam, vegetables, variety kinds of wheats, breads, etc...; are all have lots of good carbohydrates the human body needs. please diversify the crops, etc... this is why i kept saying look around the world, people. some people on the planet are strict vegetarians and they still survive. so with this in mind, people can live without eating just rice, eat variety of food can sustain one's life as well as rice can. so please don't think that rice is the only food that cambodian people have to have. again, look around the world and learn from other people as well so we all can be smart about living. thank you.
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