Agricultural commodities, processing and products

A Chinese agricultural company has agreed to establish a banana plantation in Cambodia, according to a senior government official. ...

Though the Kingdom’s existing salt farms in Kampot and Kep produce enough salt to support domestic consumption, industry experts, however, are worried that a flood of the vital commodity from neighboring countries will spoil the market for Cambodian producers. ...

The export of crude palm oil (CPO) from agro-industrial conglomerate Mong Reththy Group reached 13,000 metric tons in the first six months this year, up a huge 116 percent compared to the same period last year. ...

The National Assembly’s (NA) Second Commission on Economics, Finance, Banking and Auditing yesterday asked the European Union (EU) to increase rice and clothing import quotas from Cambodia, after a discussion on EU subsidies to the Kingdom. ...

More than 200kg of old meatballs were seized by the government’s Camcontrol in a crackdown on goods past their use-by dates in Pailin on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Commerce. ...

The private sector’s campaign to develop a single recognisable umbrella brand for Cambodia’s premium varieties of fragrant rice looks increasingly tenuous after a government body voiced objections to the name selected, and argued instead that the country should market each variety of rice under its ...

The specter of insolvency looms large over the businesses of rice millers in the Kingdom as the government drags its foot in providing emergency loans to bail out the sector, currently reeling from the aftereffects of a severe drought and facing stiff competition from low-grade ...

The seeds of confusion in the rice industry have been sown further. After endorsing the Phka Romduol and Phka Chansensor varieties to be the Kingdom’s own umbrella brands for fragrant and premium rice last week, the National Standards Council (NSC) said yesterday it did not ...

Cambodia’s rice industry has been advised by the European Union (EU) to seek other markets and not just concentrate its exports to Europe, as it moves from a low-income country in its least developed country (LDC) status to a lower-middle income nation, amid calls to ...

The National Standards Council (NSC) has endorsed the Phka Romduol and Phka Chansensor varieties to be the Kingdom’s own umbrella brands for fragrant and premium rice, rejecting the Cambodian Rice Federation’s “Angkor Malis” brand name. ...

As the demand for organic rice in European and United States markets keeps growing, many local rice millers and exporters are moving quickly and signing contract farming deals to supply them with the premium product. ...

The commerce minister has once again called on Thailand to consider giving access to Cambodian agricultural products to transit to the Thai port of Laem Chabang before being exported to a third country. The minister also called for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed ...

Export of crude palm oil from Mong Reththy Group, the Kingdom’s only active producer, doubled during the first half of the year despite prices showing no indication of improving, a company executive said yesterday. ...

Thailand’s Sahacogen (Chonburi) Pcl, an independent producer and distributor of electricity and steam, will form a joint venture with Saha Patthana Inter Holding Pcl, the investment arm of Thailand’s Saha Group, to invest in biomass power plants in Cambodia and Myanmar, according to online business ...

Cambodia’s apex rice industry body held its annual general meeting on Saturday, with its members unanimously re-electing its well-connected incumbent president, Sok Puthyvuth, for a second term in what some are calling a dress rehearsal for his political ascendancy. ...

The government has come to the rescue of rice millers and exporters, currently in the throes of a serious financial crisis, with loans of between $20 and $30 million to the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF). This is to help the sector purchase rice from farmers ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Monday that the government will block all illegal rice imports at its borders and limit legal rice shipments from Vietnam based on production cost. ...

As farmers across the country continue to recover from crop devastation wrought by a plague of armyworm caterpillars, those in Koh Kong province are facing a new outbreak that is decimating young rice plants, officials said ­on Monday.   ...

Cambodia’s cassava growers have been asked to target Thailand as an export market due to the high demand for the starch-tuber in the neighboring country to produce ethanol, animal feed and flour, while little is done at home to stabilize prices and provide assistance to ...

An outbreak of army worms – brought on by recent rains – is attacking crops in five provinces, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.   ...

While the luxury timber trade continues to eat away at Cambodia’s forests, there is another industry that poses a growing threat to the Kingdom’s trees: pepper farms.   ...

Cambodian rice exports have dramatically declined over the past three months compared to the same period last year, according to data released by the General Department of Agriculture yesterday. ...

The Kingdom’s rice exports to the European Union (EU), which now enjoy duty and quota free access, could be threatened if the regional grouping agrees to Italy’s request to limit rice imports from least developed countries (LDCs). Italy is Europe’s top premium rice producer and ...

Grow Asia, which formally launched a partnership with Cambodia late last year, will reconvene on June 13 in Phnom Penh to kick-off working groups between the public and private sector, including NGOs, after targeting six crops for market potential. ...