Sunday, January 07, 2007

Cambodia produces 6 mln tons of rice in 2006 [but doesn't have the ability to export it itself]

January 05, 2007

Cambodia's rice production increased to six million tons in 2006, five percent higher than 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has said.

Market also responded positively in 2006 as rice price jumped to a range between 120 U.S. dollars and even 135 U.S. dollars per ton, while seeds of top-quality fragrant rice were sold at 180 U.S. dollars per ton, the Cambodian Sin Chew Daily quoted statistics from the ministry as saying Thursday.

Except for a booming market, the increase of rice production also guaranteed the food supply for the kingdom, where rice was staple food, agricultural officials told the paper.

However, Pu Kea, Chairman of the Rice Hulling Mills' Association in Battambang province, told reporters that huge profits went to the exporters from Malaysia, Singapore and African countries, while the farmers and the mill owners could only make limited incomes from simple processing procedures.

"They don't have enough money to run export business," Pu Kea said.

According to official statistics, Cambodia planned to export 1. 5 million tons of rice in 2006.

Rice and corn are the major crops of the kingdom, whose most important pillar of economy is agriculture.

Agricultural products accounted for 31.44 percent of Cambodia's GDP in 2005.

Source: Xinhua

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is an opening for KI in rice export business.

SiS

Anonymous said...

It is so sad that these Cambodian farmers had signed contract with the Thai and the Viet for their rice export! I just hope there are some rice left over for ordinary Cambodian people to do business!

I am willing to bet that 90% percent of Cambodian rice are destined for Thai and Viet middleman and from there will go directly to United States!

Anonymous said...

So we will never see cambodian rice on international market !

Sinne 1 year now some markets in France sell the "Neang malis" rice.
Even if it's a bit more expensive than thai's one, I always buy the khmer rice.Doing this, I hope it will encourage exporters to export themselves and more and more stamp "Product of Cambodia" on maximum of the exported products.

We have to help to open market for our poor farmers.As long as market is closed, farmers will not run their machine to the max level and their products will never be able to compete on international scene !

This si just my opinion.
Vibol

Anonymous said...

I used to run an import/export business in Cambodia. Here is what happened with rice. All my potential Khmer suppliers had long-term contracts with VN. They quoted me prices far above the ones for VN buyers. The same VN buyers undersold almost everyone with their favorable terms. The same thing happened when the Thai businesses came on the scene. Cambodian rice is always sold as either VN or Thai rice abroad. Do I blame the VN or the Thai? No, because business is business. But if the independent Cambodian rice mills want to business to do business on their own they need to set-up their own Cambodian export companies. Of course, Thai and VN companies are easy to deal with. You call them , offer your batch, you get a price, and that's it. They have ready-made distribution channels throughout the world. Doing the marketing yourself is tough and arduous work. The cost of business will be recouped in one year, however, if you have enough product to sell. The buyers are there. So maybe the Cambodian rice miller just does not want to make the effort?

Anonymous said...

I assume not only do they lack effort, but also the know-how.