Agriculture
Agricultural commodities, processing and products
Rice loans to be disbursed soon
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 ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29421/rice-loans-to-be-disbursed-soon/
SAC shipping center opens
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 ...
Tin Sokhavuth
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29325/sac-shipping-center-opens/
Thais to facilitate blocked maize exports
A month after Thailand blocked agricultural products from Cambodia over improperly stamped and signed certification documents, the Thai ambassador on Friday pledged to seek a solution for Cambodia’s maize exports. Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said on Saturday that Cambodian authorities are doing their utmost to solve ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29311/thais-to-facilitate-blocked-maize-exports/
Rice paddy bank short of funds
Two years since the opening of Cambodia’s first large-scale rice paddy bank, the private sector company behind the project is seeking additional capital to carry it through the next five years. Thaneakea Srov (Kampuchea) Plc launched services in late August 2014 with its sprawling facility in ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-paddy-bank-short-funds
Palm sugar's GI status
Kampong Speu palm sugar is expected to receive its geographical indication (GI) status certification from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development by the end of this year, according to an official from the Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Promotion Association (KSPSPA). Mr. Sok Sarang, ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29070/palm-sugar-s-gi-status/
Exports to Thailand still blocked
Agricultural exports to Thailand are still being blocked at the border by Thai authorities over concerns that officials’ seals and certificates of origin are being forged, as Cambodian officials try to resolve the issue. The Ministry of Commence on Friday issued a statement stressing that the ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29025/exports-to-thailand-still-blocked/
Region agrees on new standards for rubber
Rubber industry experts and government officials from ASEAN member countries gathered in Siem Reap yesterday to agree on harmonised standards for rubber products that would facilitate cross-border trade. The Asean Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) Rubber-Based Product Working Group (RBPWG) agreed to 61 harmonised ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/region-agrees-new-standards-rubber
Battambang rice-farming families fear floods
About 40,000 Battambang rice-farming families already suffering steep losses from a severe drought are at risk of seeing their crops wiped out entirely by devastating floods as late seasonal rains start to kick in. A drought that meteorologists have blamed on the tail-end of an ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battambang-rice-farming-families-fear-floods
Up to $85M earmarked to develop agro sectors
Representatives of Cambodia’s rice sector and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) met yesterday with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to discuss the implementation of a five-year program to promote the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/85m-earmarked-develop-agro-sectors
Committees to tackle rice woes
The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) yesterday agreed to create provincial level committees to provide emergency relief to the Kingdom’s beleaguered rice sector, currently in crisis due to falling exports. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28624/committees-to-tackle-rice-woes/
Board of CRF seeks a double term
Just a month since their election, the leaders of the nation’s apex rice industry have cast a motion to extend their terms – a move some have greeted with suspicion. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/board-crf-seeks-double-term
Cambodia asks East Timor to import rice, sugar
Cambodia is seeking to export milled rice and sugar to East Timor, according to the Ministry of Commerce, with experts saying it will expand markets for the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28511/cambodia-asks-east-timor-to-import-rice--sugar/
Rice taskforce created, again
The Ministry of Commerce set up a new taskforce on Friday to address challenges faced by the Kingdom’s struggling rice industry and assess demands made by members of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), who have decried the ineffectiveness of an earlier taskforce set up by ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-taskforce-created-again
Kampong Speu protesters reject NGO’s help
In defiance of an order by Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Khoun Sreng, more than 100 people protested outside the offices of Equitable Cambodia (EC) yesterday. They held signs denouncing the NGO, as community representatives inside submitted a letter withdrawing their consent for the group to represent ...
Jack Davies and Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-speu-protesters-reject-ngos-help
Mango exports to S. Korea stalled
In December, South Korea announced that it planned to import dried mangos from Cambodia and the news was heralded as a sign that the country’s lackluster mango export sector was improving. However, a lack of machinery in the Kingdom has meant that the South Korean ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28400/mango-exports-to-s--korea-stalled/
Border control a concern as harvest looms
Tighter border controls by Thai authorities could result in thousands of tonnes of Cambodian agricultural goods getting stranded at the border next month when local farmers begin harvesting their crops, sources warned yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/border-control-concern-harvest-looms
Evictees, sugar company reach deal at last
Representatives of evicted families and a sugarcane plantation owned by a prominent CPP senator announced an agreement on Thursday that provides compensation ranging from $500 to $5,000 to eligible villagers after a five-year battle over land. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-sugar-company-reach-deal-last-116579/
Rice farmers bracing for droughts, floods
Though the rice-planting season has started and nationwide rice cultivation this month has been higher than planned, farmers are worried that adverse weather events caused by climate change will ruin their crops. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ planning and statistics department, the ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28321/rice-farmers-bracing-for-droughts--floods/
Villagers, police face off in Phnom Penh over Koh Kong sugar petition
Meanchey district police and security guards yesterday clashed with about 70 Koh Kong province villagers at the capital’s Samaki Rainsy pagoda, shoving and pushing them as they tried to make their way to the Ministry of Land Management. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-police-face-phnom-penh-over-koh-kong-sugar-petition
More than 600kg of ivory seized
More than 600 kilograms of ivory were seized on Friday at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, but the provincial court has yet to receive a complaint about the case from customs officials, a provincial prosecutor told Khmer Times yesterday. ...
San Bunsim
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28163/more-than-600kg-of-ivory-seized/
Monster sugar mill eats through sugarcane supply
Just three months since starting production, Cambodia’s largest sugar mill is sitting idle due to a shortage of its primary input sugarcane, a provincial Agriculture Ministry official said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/monster-sugar-mill-eats-through-sugarcane-supply
Call to revise rubber tax
As the price of natural rubber tumbles due to a slowdown in the global economy and falling demand for the commodity, the Kingdom’s hard hit rubber industry investors are now calling on the government to revise export taxes. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28028/call-to-revise-rubber-tax/
Cambodia asks China to double rice quota
Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak lobbied his visiting Chinese counterpart, Gao Hucheng, yesterday to consider doubling Cambodia’s annual rice export quota to China while also proposing a host of agricultural trade agreements. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-asks-china-double-rice-quota
Gloomy forecast for Cambodia's rice sector
An industry analyst has issued a dire forecast for Cambodia’s rice sector, claiming the long-grain “white gold” that has been credited with lifting millions of Cambodia’s farmers out of abject poverty, and which seems a natural fit for the Kingdom’s agrarian workforce, is on a ...
Cam McGrath and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gloomy-forecast-cambodias-rice-sector