Agricultural commodities, processing and products

As the government scrambles to buoy a rice sector suffering from crashing paddy prices and fierce international competition, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday lauded the government officials and “generous businesspeople” who heeded calls for emergency funds. ...

The country’s financial institutions are closely monitoring loans that have been made to rice farmers, who say that this year’s fall in rice prices will affect their ability to make repayments, industry officials said yesterday. Last year, farmers were paid around 840 riel ($0.21) per kilogram ...

It’s almost 10 in the morning in Battambang province’s Bavel district and the blazing sun would deter anyone from venturing too far from the cool comfort of their thatched huts in this rice-growing area. But for many families whose livelihoods depend on rice farming, braving the ...

Cambodia’s first experimental farm and research centre for potato cultivation opened yesterday as experts confirmed that the Kingdom’s soils are suitable for the starchy tuber – raising hopes that local crops could one day satisfy the fast-food cravings that have put potatoes in high demand. ...

A day after a state bank called on Cambodians to buy domestically milled rice to help a government scheme to stabilise prices in the sector, multiple ruling party officials were reaching into their own pockets to do just that. The Rural Development Bank – tasked with ...

Rice millers in the country will now be able to access the government’s promised emergency loan of $20 million to purchase paddy rice from farmers in a bid to prevent rice prices from falling further, the Rural Development Bank (RDB) announced yesterday. Rural Development Bank CEO ...

The government-owned bank charged with issuing $27 million in emergency loans to rice millers as part of an initiative aimed at propping up the struggling rice industry announced the terms of the credit lines yesterday, and said it would ensure that the funds were used ...

In the latest effort to mitigate the impact of plummeting rice prices, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the government was seeking $300 million from China to boost the capacity of rice millers and provide funds to them for purchasing paddy from farmers. ...

Attempting to call attention to the havoc low rice prices are wreaking on their livelihoods, hundreds of farmers in Battambang’s Sangke district took to the streets yesterday, symbolically pouring rice onto National Road 5. ...

The Cambodia-Thailand border in Pailin province temporarily reopened to various Cambodian agricultural products on Friday after a meeting between provincial authorities on both sides of the border, according to the deputy provincial governor who led the Cambodian delegation. ...

In an effort to appease rice farmers and stimulate rice millers to purchase fragrant rice currently being harvested across the country, the government announced that it had found $27 million to pay for emergency measures. The Ministry of Economy and Finance released a statement on Friday ...

The Cambodia Rice Bank (CRB) will intervene to prevent the price of fragrant rice from falling further by offering to buy the staple grain directly from farmers at the market price of 840 riel (21 cents) a kilogram. The CRB also called on farmers to ...

As the harvest season of Cambodia’s most important crop kicks off, a crisis is looming as both rice farmers and millers face crippling capital shortages and a promised industry lifeline has yet to materialise. Industry experts said yesterday that these small farmers desperate to pay their ...

Following a Monday announcement from the Agriculture Ministry that provincial officials must ensure that the country’s rice millers pay adequate prices for rice paddy, the ministry followed up yesterday, saying that working groups had started discussing the situation with rice millers and rice farmers. In a ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has taken action to prevent millers from purchasing paddy rice at below market price from farmers, currently struggling to produce enough marketable rice crop to make ends meet. The ministry, in a statement issued on Monday, ordered all provincial agricultural departments to ...

Palm sugar producers in Kampong Speu province say they are ready to scale up and meet demand as global consumer goods giant Unilever looks to source palm sugar for its products from the Cambodian market. Prak Sereywath, president of the Cambodia Institute for Research and Rural ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that China gave assurances that it will grant greater access for Cambodia’s agricultural products to enter its markets. “It is my mission to ensure that domestic goods, especially agricultural products, can be exported to China in greater quantities. I just ...

With less than three months to the rice harvesting season in November, panic has now set in among rice millers and producers who feel less confident as the days go by that they will be bailed out by government emergency loans ‒ to help them ...

The Chinese government will import 200,000 tons of rice from Cambodia from next year – double the current amount – and will also help in the restoration of Preah Vihear temple, it was announced yesterday. ...

A group of private sector rubber producers have petitioned the government to drop export taxes on rubber products, arguing that by scrapping the tax the sector would attract foreign investment into processing factories. ក្រុមអ្នកផលិតកៅស៊ូចង់នាំឱ្យពន្ធនាំចេញត្រូវលុបចោលក្រុមអ្នកផលិតកៅស៊ូឯកជនមួយបានដាក់ញ្ញត្តិទៅរដ្ឋាភិបាលដើម្បីទម្លាក់ចោលពន្ធនាំចេញផលិតផលកៅស៊ូ ដែលលើកឡើងថា ការមិនយកពន្ធនាំចេញនៃវិស័យនេះអាចនឹងទាក់ទាញវិនិយោគិនបរទេសមកដំឡើងរោងចក្រកែច្នៃ។ ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) hopes to export around 200,000 tons of milled rice a year to Indonesia, which is one of the biggest rice markets in Asean. This comes after the CRF announced late last month that it will not join the bid to ...

Unilever is looking to source 2,000 tons of organic palm sugar a year from Cambodia, a senior manager said yesterday. Monica Soy, senior external affairs manager at Unilever Cambodia, told Khmer Times yesterday that Unilever requires about 2,000 tons a year, to be exported from Cambodia ...

Cambodia’s beleaguered rice millers can now breathe a sigh of relief after a tumultuous three months in what seemed to be government ineptitude in disbursing an emergency loan of $30 million to prevent them from becoming insolvent. In June, the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) announced that ...

The launching ceremony of the Agro-products Cooperative (SAC) shipping center in Svay Rieng province last week took place in the presence of several dignitaries, including Fujimoto Toshiki, the second secretary of the Japanese embassy, Mam Amnot, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, and ...