Agricultural commodities, processing and products

A Chinese firm that plans to invest $2 billion into developing the Kingdom’s first special economic zone (SEZ) dedicated solely to agricultural processing and storage has signed on a new partner to help jumpstart the stalled project, a top agriculture official said yesterday. ...

A proposal for a massive warehouse and silo that has attracted two Chinese investors aims to fill the Kingdom’s conspicuous gap in paddy rice storage capacity, which still falls 60 percent short of the level needed for the country to achieve its goal of 1 ...

A feasibility study into the possibility of establishing a series of warehouses and kiln for rice farmers is exploring how to improve the quality of storage in the industry. ...

Mong Reththy Group (MRG), the Kingdom’s largest agro-industrial conglomerate, has secured a deal to export additional volumes of locally grown mangoes to France, the company announced yesterday on its Facebook page. ...

India plans to produce latex concentrate for the manufacture of specialised products with high tensile strength and resilience from fresh latex collected in Cambodian rubber plantations.​ ...

Cassava prices in Cambodia experienced a sharp drop this month leading to heavy losses for smallholder farmers unable to quickly switch to more profitable crops and recoup their mounting losses, a provincial agriculture official said yesterday. ...

A Thai company has expressed an interest in exporting Kampong Speu’s Keo Romeat mangoes to Europe, America and Australia, according to a senior Agriculture Ministry official. ...

Growing demand for animal feed is driving up both the demand and price of corn, with smallholder farmers claiming the field crop offers a more stable market than cassava.Corn is grown on more than 140,000 hectares in Cambodia and can be harvested twice a year, ...

A World Bank subsidiary will soon start training 2,000 farmers contracted to supply a leading Cambodian rice exporter on how to meet an international farming standard. ...

The International Finance Corporation and Amru Rice, one of Cambodia’s biggest rice exporters, launched a new partnership yesterday to improve the competitiveness of the Kingdom’s rice sector, according to a press release. ...

The rapid expansion of pepper cultivation in Cambodia coincides with the spice’s plummeting world prices, creating concerns that the glut of pepper ripening on vines across the Kingdom could further erode next season’s market prices and push the sector toward a collapse. ...

Floods and a plague of crickets have left about 100 hectares of rice crops destroyed in Tbong Khmum province after a week of heavy rains, local farmers and officials said yesterday. ...

The silo is expected to be finished by the end of the year and the warehouse will be fully operational for the 2018 harvest season, according to the CEO of the Cambodia Rice Bank.   ...

Khdib Sreymich, general manager of Coco Khmer, a Cambodia-based coconut cosmetics manufacturer, said her company is forced to import coconuts from Vietnamese suppliers to meet consumer demand for the company’s products. She explained that the farmers preferred to sell the coconuts when they were young, ...

Cashew nut prices seem to have fallen slightly at the end of harvest season compared to March this year, according to the cashew nut association in Kampong Thom province. Association president Oum Uon said prices for raw cashew nuts dropped from 7,000 riel ($1.75) per kilo ...

This is a typical morning for many villagers in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, where almost 400 families are members of Kampot Pepper Promotion Association. Black Kampot pepper currently sells for $15 per kilogramme, while red fetches $25 and white $28 per kg. ...

While Cambodian mango varieties such as Keo Romeat are well regarded in overseas markets, there are constraints which need to be addressed before large scale exports can be achieved, said the owner of the largest agro-industrial company in Cambodia yesterday. ...

Hong Kong-listed firm North Asia Resources Holding Ltd announced yesterday that it has purchased 14,000 hectares of an economic land concession in Pursat province from Henan Tianguan Enterprise Group for $53.2 million.​ ...

The slowdown of regional and global economies, especially in China, US dollar appreciation, unfavourable weather and global stock market speculation have plunged rubber prices, the Association for Rubber Development in Cambodia said.   ...

it has been more than six months since Vietnam agreed to waive duties on 3,000 tonnes of Cambodian dried tobacco exports per year, yet local smallholder tobacco farmers claim the agreement has done little to improve their incomes, with some accusing large tobacco companies of ...

Pepper production inched up to close to 12,000 tonnes last year with cultivation on 6,124 hectares, but unstable prices have led to calls for geographic indicator (GI) certificates for a range of peppers. ...

Farmers in Pursat province are to benefit from a new vegetable market, allowing them to sell their produce for free for the first five years. The market is aimed at boosting sales of chemical-free vegetables for distribution across the country, to reduce reliance on imported vegetables ...

The Kingdom’s leading palm oil producer has projected revenues of $20 million this year as it targets another record-setting year for crude palm oil exports. ...

Several international and local coffee industry representatives gathered yesterday for the start of a three-day event promoting partnerships and franchising opportunities to satisfy Cambodia’s growing coffee cravings. ...