Ranking the rice news.
'The Cambodian government has decided to lift the ban on the export of paddy, white rice and fish to international markets starting on May 20'.In spite of the ban, Khmer Times (Jun. 11) notes:
'Nearly 1 million tonnes of rice paddy were exported from Cambodia to Vietnam from January to June this year, with exporters claiming that the COVID-19 virus will not affect the Kingdom’s rice export industry'.A day later (Jun. 12) the Khmer Times possibly deliriously announces:
'The Minister of Agriculture has claimed that the Kingdom’s milled rice exports to the international market are expected to reach 1 million tonnes this year, the amount set by the government five years ago, However, rice exporters said the country will take at least two years more to meet that amount'.The Phnom Penh Post (May 31) earlier did the sums and also concluded that the exports will be up due to the Covid-19 global pandemic:
'Cambodian milled-rice exports to the international market in the first five months of this year skyrocketed 42 per cent to 356,097 tonnes from 250,172 tonnes during the same period last year, said a report from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.
The European market accounted for 122,010 tonnes, up 51.10 per cent year-on-year from 80,749 tonnes, the Chinese market 136,825 tonnes, up 25.26 per cent, ASEAN countries 45,825 tonnes, up 45.39 per cent, and other destinations 51,437 tonnes, up 79.40 per cent.
Fragrant rice accounted for 289,287 tonnes, or 81.24 per cent, white long-grain rice 62,779 tonnes and long-grain parboiled rice 4,031 tonnes.
In May alone, rice exports reached 55,845 tonnes, an increase of 53.38 per cent compared to May last year, of which 51,683 tonnes was fragrant rice, 3,578 tonnes was white long-grain rice and 584 tonnes was long-grain parboiled rice'.
In the margins, the Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 17) highlights exchange possibilities:
'Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) vice-president Chan Sokheang plans to negotiate with his Chinese counterpart for cash-settlements in riel and yuan currencies for exports of milled rice.
The move is intended to facilitate payments and boost exports.
Sokheang told The Post on Tuesday that since exports to China have sharply increased in recent years, it is important that the CRF and its members work with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the central bank, to facilitate payments in the local currencies.
“All members agreed to request that the NBC coordinate cash settlements in riel and yuan,” said Sokheang.
“We typically buy paddy in the local currency and then we export in US dollars, which requires us to exchange yuan to US dollars and US dollars to yuan and then into riel. This makes both sides lose money on the exchange rate.”
He said time and money would be saved if payments could be made directly in yuan via banks in China and Chinese-owned banks in the Kingdom'.
Other maginal news. Phnom Penh Post (May 20):
'The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries signed an agreement on Wednesday with the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with the goal of improving the rice sector by enhancing the analysis, productivity and resilience of value-chain networks.
The agreement was signed by Minister Veng Sakhon and IRRI regional representative for Southeast Asia Dr Yurdi Yasmi'.
Waste
In the other-than-rice news, let's start with a broader issue, that of processing. The Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 8):
'Agro-processing is the future of Cambodia’s agricultural industry. In recent months, Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on local and foreign investors to inject more funding into the sector, and researchers from institutions like the World Bank agree. Increasing Cambodia’s agro-processing capacity has the potential to enhance agricultural and socioeconomic development significantly.
But at the moment, Cambodia is wasting this potential.
Agro-processing, which links the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, takes raw and intermediate materials – including crops, livestock, fish and forest materials – and turns them into finished, marketable products.
For example, Cambodia exports rice to the international market. But other, potentially even more profitable, opportunities exist. Cambodia could add value by processing its rice into other products like sake, vinegar, noodles, bread, or milk'.
On the crops themselves, the Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 8) kicks off with corn:
'The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has announced that exports of corn used for livestock feed have declined sharply over the last few years, while production and domestic demand have risen.
Minister Veng Sakhon said corn exports reached 35,636 tonnes during the first five months of the year, down 29.68 per cent from the same period last year when 50,679 tonnes were exported.
In 2019, corn exports reached 119,993 tonnes and in 2018, 204,184 tonnes were exported.
He said despite the decline in international demand, the production of Cambodian corn has steadily increased over the last four years.
Farmers’ corn production surpassed 1.11 million tonnes in 2019, up from 333,058 tonnes in 2016'.
Then the Khmer Times (Jun. 8) on chillies:
'Cambodia exported more than 30,000 tonnes of fresh chilis during the past five months of the year to Thailand, the Agriculture Ministry reported.
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However, exports of corn saw a significant decrease to the international market, from 204,184 tonnes 2018 to 119,993 tonnes of corn last year. In the last five months, the country shipped 35,636 tonnes of corn, down 29 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The commodity fetched on average 2,600 riels ($0.63) per kilogramme as of last week.
The ministry added that the decrease in corn exports is not a problem for farmers: It is because the food has a high demand in the local market'.
Stoned
Fruity news a-z (and some nuts/others).
B for banana's. The Khmer Times (Jun. 4):
'During the first five months of 2020, Cambodia exported 22,762 tonnes of yellow bananas, wherein 14,414 tonnes to Vietnam and 8,348 others to China'.The Khmer Times (Jun. 16) on cashews:
'The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has urged a company that has been farming cashew nut trees in Siem Reap, to invest in a processing factory because the government is considering establishing a cashew nut research centre.Phnom Penh Post (May 25):
The call was made during a meeting between Minister Veng Sakhon and the president of Sophorn Theary Peanich Co Ltd Siek Piseth yesterday in Siem Reap province.
Sophorn Theary Peanich Co Ltd, which was granted an economic land concession (ELC) of 4,000 hectares in Chong Spean village, Khvav commune, Chi Kraeng district, Siem Reap province, in 2006, said it would implement a contract with the Ministry of Agriculture in 2017 to grow cashew nut trees on a 1,232-hectare plantation.
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Piseth said tha the company has already completed growing on 1,030 hectares, providing more than 500 kilogrammes a year in output per hectare on average. He said last year, the company collected more 250 tonnes of cashew nuts'.
'Cambodia expects exports of longan (Dimocarpus longan) from Pailin province to the international market, especially direct exports to China, to pick up once the once the Covid-19 outbreak tapers, provincial governor Thou Phea told The Post on Monday.Mmmm for mangoes. The Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 9) on celebratory news:
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Pailin longan is currently priced at around 5,000 riel ($1.25) per kg, down from last year
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Pailin provincial Department of Agriculture director Say Sophat said an expanded cultivation area had led to a slight increase in longan yields this year compared to last year, despite unfavourable weather'.
'Cambodia reached an official agreement with China on Tuesday to export fresh mangoes in a milestone decision which will open a giant new market for local producers.The Khmer Times (Jun. 16) is less optimistic:
The Chinese government officially approved the export of 500,000 tonnes of Cambodian fresh mangoes per year to the country, where total demand for mangoes stands at about eight million tonnes per year, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
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As of Friday, 20 companies and plantation owners have submitted applications for mango orchards and packaging locations to participate in the new wave of fresh mango exports to China, department data show. The total land area listed in the applications covers 21,286ha.
In January, Cambodia and South Korea signed an agreement to allow Cambodia to export mangoes directly through Hyundai Mao Legacy.
The Kingdom exported 44,099 tonnes of fresh mangoes during the first five months of this year, an increase of around 14,885 tonnes or 50.96 per cent compared to the same period last year, ministry data show.
Last year, it exported 58,162 tonnes of fresh mangoes to six markets – Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Russia and Hong Kong'.
'Cambodia wants China to have a full fruit package deal in negotiations concerning sanitary and phytosanitary issues to export agricultural products to the Chinese market. However, this is unlikely to happen.Earlier it had added a bit of context. Khmer Times (Jun. 10):
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From now on, Cambodia is able to export mangoes to China, but only Hyundai Agro Co can ship them because this company has already installed the necessary vapour heat treatment and hot water treatments, ensuring pests on the fruits are killed and cleaned. No other companies in Cambodia have yet done this, Minister Sakhon noted'.
'Cambodia’s Agriculture Minister is urging the private sector to invest in vapour heat treatment (VHT) – a steam treatment facility – packaging and cold warehouse facilities for mango production in order to allow more of the valuable fruit to be certified for export to China.Then pepper. Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 11):
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Mango exports can make $1,000 between $1,500 a tonne depending on quality and preference.
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Chang Hoon Lee, managing director of Hyundai Agro, since his company has already installed the VHT, and HWT, the company will export 40 tonnes a day for first 200 days, 10,000 tonnes for the second year, and 20,000 tonnes for the third year.
“This is our target. We already have many partners in China and they are waiting for Cambodia mangoes,” he added. “We have to understand that Chinese is a big market, but it is also very a difficult market,” Hoon Lee added.
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Another investor, Hun Lak, Longmate Agriculture director, sais in order to export mangoes to China, we have to think of our soil, growing techniques, fertilisers, packaging, and storage. He said that he has 700 hectares of mangoes and will manage about 20 to 30 percent among 700 hectares for exporting to China. The rest he will process as jam and puree locally.
“One hectare of mangoes can yield around 15-20 tonnes of the fruit. We expect to export about 20 to 30 percent of the 700 hectares in 2020-2021,” Lak added'.
'Orders for the world-famous Kampot pepper are recovering as Europe’s market demand surges following coronavirus restriction measures.Challenge
Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA) president Nguon Lay told The Post on Thursday that the association’s members had gradually begun ordering the commodity, albeit in small quantities, reflecting a market rebound.
Earlier this year there were no orders at all, he said.
He added that local companies have ordered more than three tonnes of Kampot pepper and he hopes to see more orders'.
Then we are near the end.
Eco-business (Jun. 11) notes how land rights and rubber growing are not synomynous in a positive sense:
'When the indigenous Kreung and Kachok communities locked down their villages in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province in March to keep safe from the novel coronavirus, no one knew change was afoot in their ancestral forest.
While the families in the Muoy, Inn, Mas and Kak villages were sheltering in place, Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) bulldozed land earmarked for return to the communities after years of tough negotiations involving local authorities, the company, village representatives and rights groups, according to Cambodian non-governmental organisation Equitable Cambodia.
In March last year, Ratanakiri’s governor requested that the Cambodian agriculture ministry return 742 hectares of customary land wrongly included in HAGL’s agricultural land concessions to 12 communities following a government-led demarcation process launched two years ago.
HAGL, however, challenged the appeal, arguing that 150 hectares of the designated area had already been cleared and planted and should remain within its concession.
As the pandemic delayed the ministry’s decision, the firm razed another 45 hectares of indigenous territory, laying waste to two spirit mountains, wetlands, old-growth forest as well as traditional hunting areas and burial grounds of spiritual value to the villagers'.
Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 2) on other less positive news:
'BirdLife International Cambodia has called on people living near wildlife sanctuaries to stop using pesticides to assist in the protection and conservation of wildlife, biodiversity and natural resources in the country.
The call comes after research patrols in some wildlife sanctuaries and protected landscapes in northeastern and southwestern Cambodia recently discovered a case of pesticides being used to illegally catch wildlife.
BirdLife programme manager Bou Vorsak said: “The use of pesticides in wildlife sanctuaries and protected landscapes causes catastrophic damage to wildlife, biodiversity, natural resources and the environment'.
