Agriculture
Agricultural commodities, processing and products
Villagers Claim Soldiers Hired to Prevent Planting
Villagers in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district said Friday that Union Development Group (UDG) used military forces to prevent villagers from planting paddy rice on land that is locked in a longstanding dispute, a claim the military denied. Khun Thala, a 40-year-old villager, said Friday that ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-claim-soldiers-hired-to-prevent-planting-61420/
Italy seeks to halt EU imports of duty-free Cambodian rice: report
Italy plans to lobby the European Union to halt duty-free imports of rice from Cambodia to protect local rice growers and millers, an industry source says. In a report Thursday, oryza.com said Italy was preparing to submit a report to Brussels saying that Cambodian rice was ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NjBkNGJjNWM0ZDR
Salt makers shake out a big surplus
Cambodia’s salt production rose sharply at the end of this year’s harvest season thanks to more favourable weather conditions enhancing yields. Salt production in Kampot and Kep provinces – home to Cambodia’s salt fields – reached 147,000 tonnes this year, nearly double the 80,000 tonnes recorded ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/salt-makers-shake-out-big-surplus
Exporter under attack in rice row
In December 2011, the managing director of Megagreen Imex Cambodia, Renne Outh, proudly announced that his firm had inked a $21 million deal to be the first to ship Cambodian rice to the Philippines. Nearly two and a half years on, not a single Cambodian grain ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exporter-under-attack-rice-row
FAO Estimates Cambodia 2014 Rice Exports to Increase Slightly to 1.2 Million Tons
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated Cambodia’s 2014 rice exports to increase slightly to 1.2 million tons over that in 2013 due to increased production. The FAO reports that its exports estimate includes unofficial exports of milled as well as paddy rice ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/fao-estimates-cambodia-2014-rice-exports-increase-slightly-12-million-tons
Rice industry caught in flux
The rice industry’s quest for greater quality at lower cost reached a dead end yesterday at a conference in Phnom Penh, with exporters and farmers polarised on how to achieve greater returns for the industry. The workshop, titled “Improving Rice Value Chain and Enhancing Farmers’ Livelihoods”, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-industry-caught-flux
Rice exports to Thailand dive
Rice exports to Thailand plummeted in the first four months of the year as a result of that country’s surplus, which reached record levels at the end of 2013. Between January and April, Cambodia exported just 1,550 tonnes of rice to Thailand, down 89 per cent ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-exports-thailand-dive
Vendors hit as price of Thai durian imports rise
The price of durian from Thailand has risen sharply this year, leading to shrinking profits for fruit vendors in Phnom Penh as demand from China for the spiky, pungent fruit grows more robust. On Sihanouk Boulevard, fruit vendor Heng Sovanna said that since March, the price ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/vendors-hit-as-price-of-thai-durian-imports-rise-59964/
Cassava fuel plant study now one year in
Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Oil & Gas is considering building a biomass plant in Battambang province to use cassava to produce fuel, a Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC) official says. Leng Chreang, director of mine risk education at CMAC, said the Japanese firm is one year ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cassava-fuel-plant-study-now-one-year
Villager travels to Parliament over land row
A representative of villagers involved in a land dispute in Mondolkiri province appealed to the government Tuesday to address their displacement after their shelters were destroyed by police and soldiers in a forced eviction Monday. Chan Rithy stood outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-travels-to-parliament-over-land-dispute-59795/
Yield of GI pepper up, but lower than hoped
This season’s Kampot pepper production is expected to reach 27 tonnes, up from 21 tonnes last year thanks to a larger area of harvested land. But Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Association, said on Sunday that despite the increase, adverse weather conditions meant the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/yield-gi-pepper-lower-hoped
Cambodia's cassava export drops 13 pct in Q1
Cambodia had exported 213,530 tons of fresh and dry cassava in the first three months of 2014, down 13 percent compared with 245,440 tons over the same period last year, according to the figures provided by the Commerce Ministry on Sunday. However, the country saw a ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140525/cambodias-cassava-export-drops-13-pct-q1
Farmers urged to go green
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture have called on farmers to cease using chemical pesticides and adopt environmentally friendly methods in an effort to increase yields and reduce damage to produce. At an agriculture workshop on biological control agents hosted yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/farmers-urged-go-green
New chairman of the Cambodia Rice Federation viewed with suspicion by local media; agenda will focus on raising rice quality, lower borrowing rates
The newly-formed Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), a body that aims to unite the rice sector under one representative body in the country, just elected its first chairman and he happens to be the son of Cambodia’s deputy prime minister. He is also the CEO of ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/new-chairman-cambodia-rice-federation-viewed-suspicion-local-media-agenda-will-focus
Rubber firm destroys homes
The Swift Rubber Company demolished three homes in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Chum district last week without compensation, telling about 120 families to leave immediately or face the destruction of more houses, according to villagers and rights group Adhoc. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rubber-firm-destroys-homes
New rice body gets president
The newly formed Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), an organisation aimed at uniting the entire rice sector under one representative body, will be headed by Sok Puthyvuth, son of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An. Puthyvuth, who is also CEO of SOMA Group, a multifaceted business that includes ...
Chan Muyhong and Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-rice-body-gets-president
Exports expand: HK the new market for organic rice
In a first for the Kingdom’s organic rice, the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), successfully exported its produce to Hong Kong earlier this month, the organisation’s top official confirmed yesterday. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-expand-hk-new-market-organic-rice
Rubber prices tumble as industry panics
Cambodia’s steadily declining rubber prices have hit critically low levels that are destined to only get worse as Thailand prepares to offload huge rubber stocks, the secretary-general of the Association for Rubber Development of Cambodia said Thursday. As the price of natural rubber has paralleled a ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rubber-prices-tumble-as-industry-panics-58889/
Longans longing for storage
The amount of land used to grow longans has doubled in the past two years, but a lack of supply-chain infrastructure is hampering farmers’ ability to get top dollar for their product, the fruit’s body says. Sreng Sreang, deputy director of the Pailin Longan Farmers’ Community ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/longans-longing-storage
Kratie families march in Phnom Penh to protest evictions
Nearly 200 villagers from Kratie province gathered in Phnom Penh Monday, hoping to deliver a petition to the Cambodian Senate and other government agencies in protest of a rubber company’s development there. The villagers, from Snoul district, say a Vietnamese rubber company began developing in ...
Suy Heimkhemra,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/kratie-families-march-in-phnom-penh-to-protest-evictions/1912760.html
Exports of rubber up, but prices on the fall
Despite a large increase in exports during the first quarter, natural rubber producers continue to see declining revenues, as world prices fall further. The latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce show natural rubber exports grew 26 per cent during the first quarter of 2014, compared ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-rubber-prices-fall
Rubber company suspends projects as World Bank investigates
A World Bank-supported rubber company accused of land grabs has suspended some of its projects, as an investigation by the bank continues. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai company, which received support from the bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in a decision following an April 2 ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rubber-company-suspends-projects-as-world-bank-investigates/1908775.html
Villagers’ crops destroyed over land dispute
Representatives of a community locked in a land dispute with a Vietnamese company in Kratie province returned home from Phnom Penh late Tuesday after failing to garner support from Prime Minister Hun Sen, while an official at the company said it had begun destroying villagers’ ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-crops-destroyed-over-land-dispute-58183/
Cambodia exports 120,291 tons rice January-April, 2014; up 1.5% from last year
Cambodia exported about 120,291 tons of rice in first four months of calendar year 2014, up about 1.5% from about 118,504 tons rice exported in the same period last year, according to data from the Secretariat of One Window Service of Rice Export Formality (SOWS-REF). ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/cambodia-exports-120291-tons-rice-january-april-2014-15-last-year