Falling Rice Price Taking a Toll on Exporters

KhmerTimes/Sum Manet

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Cambodia seller examines milled rice at market in Phnom Penh. KT/Chor Sokunthea

The falling price of rice in Asia due to the slowing global economy and intensifying regional competition is taking a toll on Cambodian exporters and farmers even though exports jumped more than 20 percent last month compared to January last year, executives said.
 

Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodia Rice Federation, told Khmer Times yesterday that prices of rice exports to Asia fell, especially in the China. He blamed the decline on the slump in the Chinese economy as well as falling prices of exports from neighboring countries.  
 

 “The rice export price in the Asian market affects exporters and farmers because they buy rice from neighboring countries at a lower price,” Mr. Lak said. “On the other hand, Cambodian rice export to the EU market is not affected because we meet their requirements.”  
 

“Cambodian white rice is now priced at about $420 per ton, while Vietnamese rice is about $340, because they are able to produce more than us, and their farmers can still gain a profit from it,” Mr. Lak said, adding: “If we decrease the price, it affects our farmers and exporters because our production cost is high.”
 

“To meet this problem, we need to strengthen our productivity, quality, standard and storage and prepare better quality seeds, improve our techniques for growing rice, and expand the market for exports,” he said.
 

According to the federation’s figures, the price of fragrant rice is about $770 per ton, compared to $810 per ton in the first quarter of last year, while Thai fragrant rice is now selling at $750 per ton compared to $850 per ton in the first quarter last year.
 

Chea Sovithyea, director of KIM SE Rice Mill, agreed with Mr. Lak, saying the falling price of rice in the Asian market affects rice exports. He said the price was hit by regional as well as global trends.
 

“We have to cooperate to find new ways to improve rice exports,” he said.
 

Brunei imported 1,974 tons of rice from Cambodia last month for the first time, while Malaysia imported 2,736 tons and Singapore imported 418 tons, according to a report from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.
 

China imported 6,999 tons of rice from Cambodia last month, according to official figures.
 

Cambodia exported 44,033 tons of rice – both white and fragrant – last month, up 22.6 percent from the 35,921 tons in the same month last year, according to the report.