By Sieam Bunthy
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Phnom Penh Post
The tonnage of the Kingdom’s milled-rice exports jumped nearly 50 per
cent year-on-year in the first quarter, according to the Ministry of
Commerce, with export revenues soaring as much as 82 per cent.
Total exports of milled rice for the first three months of 2012 hit
38,409 tonnes, climbing 49 per cent from the year-ago period, when
exports were 25,784 tonnes, ministry data showed.
At the same time, revenues from exports increased 82.4 per cent to US$27.1 million, up from $14.9 million year-on-year.
Mao Thora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce,
said growth in both the number of rice millers and milling capacity, as
well as the continued investment in sector, helped to push up the
numbers.
“Now we see that rice millers are increasing gradually,
so the exports are also on the rise,” he said, adding that both local
and foreign investors are eyeing the sector.
Still, insiders
noted that the Kingdom’s pricier milled rice had made the crop less
competitive on the international market, as the early-stage sector had
yet to create economies of scale that would lower production costs.
“Our
price is high, and that made it difficult to ship rice out of the
country early this year,” Seng Bun Sor, vice president of the Federation
of Cambodian Rice Millers Associations and president of Seng Bun Sor
Rice Exporter.
As a result, some millers did not see increases in their export numbers, he added.
That
sentiment was echoed by Hun Lak, president of Mekong Oriza Rice
Exporter, who said both Vietnam and India were selling their rice at
more competitive prices and that is a threat to domestic exporters.
“The
price of our milled rice is higher, resulting in a drop in the export
of all kinds of milled rice,” he said. Minister of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries Chan Sarun recently acknowledged the increased cost of
Cambodian rice, but said duty-free status in markets like the European
Union should help to bolster the Kingdom’s competitiveness.
He predicted milled rice exports this year would more than double.
Cambodia’s
milled rice exports last year were about 170,772 tonnes, totalling
$103.9 million, according to Ministry of Commerce data.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sieam Bunthy at sieam.bunthy@phnompenhpost.com
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