Rice exports resume today after two-month hiatus

Tuesday, 27 May 2008
By Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times

Cambodian rice will once again be exported from today after the expiry of a two-month ban (Mar 26 to May 26) introduced to help curb inflation.

Hun Sen yesterday confirmed the ban would be lifted, saying rice exports would be reviewed again at the end of December.

The premier assured that rice exports would not affect Cambodia’s food security, as the Kingdom had a 2.3 million ton rice surplus left from 2007, a figure not including dry-season rice recently harvested.

Rice exports have been authorized because of contractual obligations and because of a lack of storage facilities, Hun Sen said.

Rice exports must be authorized by the state and will not exceed 1.6 million tons, the premier continued, saying that Cambodia has exported over half a million tons of rice so far and farmers are eager to sell the rest.

“Eighty percent of farmers are happy when rice prices go up,” the premier claimed. “According to our calculations, we will not lack rice. Now [we] start to transplant seedlings and harvest will be collected afterwards. It is not harvested every five years.”

Exports would also be a help to the Philippines, a fellow Asean member facing concerns over rice shortages.

The resumption of rice exports was supported by economists.

“It’s good that government now allows rice export at this time because rice at the market is stable in price [and] the export of agro products benefits Cambodia,” said Prum Tola, an independent economic analyst.

Prum Tola said rice exports would benefit farmers, with soaring prices enabling the purchase of new agricultural tools. Agriculture currently accounts for 30 percent of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP), he noted.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha welcomed rice exports but warned that the government must control domestic rice prices. “The government should take proper measures to maintain food security in Cambodia and cope with rising food prices,” he said. “If we have no clear management and allow exports of rice until stocks run out, the government will [face difficulties] when the price of rice rises.”

Hun Sen said permission for all exports over 100 tons must be given by the Ministry of Commerce. Smugglers and officials engaged in graft would be punished, he vowed.

Rice market eases as Cambodia lifts ban on exports

May 27 2008
By Javier Blas in London
Financial Times (UK)

The rice market showed tentative signs of easing yesterday after Cambodia became the first country to lift trade restrictions on the grain.

Cambodia, the world's eighth largest rice exporter, imposed a ban on foreign sales two months ago to fight food inflation. But Hun Sen, prime minister, yesterday said the country was no longer facing a rice shortage.

"The ban on the rice exports is being lifted from now on," he said. "We have over 1m tonnes of rice that needs to be exported. We don't have any shortage."

Thailand medium-quality rice, the global benchmark, slipped below $1,000 a tonne following Cambodia's decision. Traders in Bangkok quoted indicative offers for this rice at about $920 a tonne, well below last month's record of more than $1,100 a tonne.

Mr Hun Sen said the lifting of the ban would help reduce "concerns of the world, especially that of the Philippines" over supplies of the grain. The Philippines is the world's largest rice importer.

The price of rice jumped from about $350 a tonne a year ago to April's record on the back of trade restrictions imposed in late 2007 and early this year by leading exporters Vietnam, India, Egypt, China and Cambodia.

The restrictions closed about a third of the international rice market, triggering panic buying by countries such as the Philippines. Rice is a staple of 3bn people in south-east Asia, west Africa and central America.

Importing countries reacted to surging prices by scrapping rice tariffs. Mexico on Sunday became the latest importer to eliminate import tariffs on staples including corn, rice, wheat and sorghum.

Analysts and traders said other rice-exporting countries might now ease their restrictions, although they warned such a move would depend on the size and quality of the new crop, which will be harvested after the summer.

Concepción Calpe, a rice expert at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, said other leading exporters would wait until it became clear whether the expected bumper crops materialised.

"India will wait for the arrival of the monsoon rains before deciding whether to ease its trade restrictions," she said.

In the wheat market, Ukraine - one of the world's top-10 exporters - also lifted its trade restrictions earlier this month, helping wheat prices to fall to the lowest level in six months.

Cambodia becomes first rice exporter to lift curbs

05/26/2008
Reuters

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodia became the first rice exporter on Monday to lift a ban on foreign shipments imposed by some Asian countries in the last six months to protect domestic supplies in the face of soaring international prices.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the southeast Asian nation, a small exporter compared to neighboring Thailand or Vietnam, clearly had enough rice for its own needs and was also short of its own long-term storage space.

"The ban on the rice exports is being lifted from now on," he told students in the capital, Phnom Penh. "We still have over one million tons of rice that need to be exported. We don't have any shortage."

Rice production in Cambodia is finally getting back on track after decades of civil war and upheaval.

It produced a record 6.4 million tons in its 2007-08 crop year, giving it a 2.6-million ton surplus for export, although Hun Sen imposed a two-month ban on foreign sales on March 27 to safeguard domestic supply.

At the time, he blamed surging overseas demand for a near trebling of domestic rice prices from $0.35 a kilogram in January to $0.92 kg in March.

The ban, which followed similar moves by India at the end of last year and Vietnam, was seen as another indicator of rapidly tightening supplies in Asia, pushing prices to record highs and raising concerns about the continent's ability to feed itself.

A week ago, state media in communist-run Vietnam, which vies with India for the mantle of the world's second-largest exporter after Thailand, said the government might lift its export ban in early July.

Hun Sen said Cambodia's next harvest was looking like a good one.

"It seems we have plenty of rice to come. We need more warehouses to store our rice," he said.

Cambodia lifts ban on rice exports

26 May 2008
AFP

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen today lifted a ban on rice exports to reduce global concerns over supplies of the grain, saying the country has enough rice for its own needs.

Hun Sen in late March banned rice exports in a bid to halt the staple food’s spiraling prices, which have doubled this year to record highs of nearly one dollar a kilogramme on the local market.

"The temporary ban on rice exported is lifted from today," Hun Sen said during a university student graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh.

"But the exports must go through the government system and will be limited to 1,6 million tonnes, so that we can maintain our reserves," he said.

Hun Sen said the lifting of the ban would help reduce "concerns of the world, especially the Philippines" over supplies of rice.

He also said exports would benefit farmers who harvested a surplus.

"We are not short on rice," Hun Sen said.

Cambodia produced some 6,7 million tones of rice last year with a surplus of 2,3 million tones which can be exported, he said.

The Philippines, which does not grow enough rice to meet its needs, scrambled to secure rice deals as world prices soared to record highs this year.

Experts blame the trend on higher energy and fertiliser costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations, and price speculation.