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All readers,

After 8 years I'm calling an end to this blog. 

My life is increasingly getting cluttered, that I need to free up my obligations. 

And make more time to live. 

So one decision I'm taking is to discontinue this monthly blog.

In a sense a relief, somewhere we have to draw the finish line. 

On the other hand, it means I'm going to lose focus of a subject which I have specialized in. 

One which is very important, but receives hardly any acknowledgement.

Especially in these times, much is made of today's reality, though there's probably nothing more important than the source of daily food. 

Should we leave the decision that will determine our futures to the private sector, or should this be a public interest? 

It's clear where I stand.

All the love in the world.

Rick

Lock & down?

The story over the past month has of course been how the Covid-19 pandemic is influencing rice markets, mostly on the consumer side.

From IRRI, an article by Valera, H.G.A., J. Balié, and V.O. Pede which seeks to look at the wider implications:

'The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on rice-based agri-food systems is expected to be much more serious and deeper than the 2008-2009 GFC. Containment efforts to address the pandemic have already severely disrupted farm supplies such as seed, fertilizer, and other agro-inputs. The lockdowns imposed in countries heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have also created important labor shortage and migration within countries (e.g. India). This could result in a higher rural wage rate if limited labor availability continues.
The lockdowns are also changing the behavior of consumers. They have been stockpiling food and other essential items. Consumers have also tended to change their spending expectations, anticipating a much longer negative financial impact of the crisis. According to a recently published McKinsey & Company article, the outlook of consumer spending is gloomy for most European countries, while for countries like Brazil and Japan the spending propensity would be impacted less.
We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic could also impact food access, and more particularly rice demand, for three main reasons. First, the traditional distribution (retail, restaurants, and food stores) and logistic (ground, air and maritime transportation, as well as processing) channels have been disrupted. Second, employment has declined and incomes have been suppressed, especially for wage earners. Third, food prices have already been negatively impacted in many countries. The price of rice has increased in many Southeast sian countries between early March and mid-April 2020 as reported by Reuters.
The combined effect of these forces could lead to a shift in rice demand. As the income of families will decline substantially, households will spend less on relatively more expensive food items like meat, milk, vegetables, and fruits. Hence, in most Asian countries where rice consumption per capita is already high, we could see both a moderate increase in rice consumption per capita and an overall increase in rice consumption due to the fact that more people will have fallen below the poverty line. For them, the only affordable food is likely to be rice. However, these poor consumers are already negatively affected by the price spikes for rice, which further compounds their purchasing power (see real price levels in Figure 3). These two mechanisms (contraction of incomes and higher rice prices) have the potential to worsen the food insecurity situation of the most vulnerable and poorest segments of the population'. 

So what I read is that consumption might inch up, though most probably for lower grade rice, but as the past has revealed, if an exporter decides to cut back for domestic policies, then anything can happen.
More in-depth. The Diplomat (May 7):

'Much of the reason for rice’s stellar and almost unique performance in the commodities space is attributable to governments’ coronavirus lockdown measures across Asia. This resulted in most of the world’s largest rice net exporters, namely India, China, and Vietnam, as well as major up-and-coming net exporters like Cambodia and Myanmar, freezing their overseas shipments to ensure sufficient stocks of rice for domestic consumption. Thailand stands out as the one significant rice exporting country continuing to supply the region’s heightened rice-consumption needs throughout the pandemic.
...
China’s surging demand for rice at the beginning of the year was arguably the principal driver in boosting global prices for the agricultural commodity. In the first quarter of 2020, according to China’s Customs Statistics, the value of rice imports rose by 60.3 percent while the value of overall agricultural imports increased by 17.4 percent for the period.
...
Vietnam, currently the world’s fourth largest rice exporter, behind India, Thailand, and the United States, managed $1.4 billion in exports, last year, which accounted for roughly 5 percent of international rice exports. Even so, Vietnam restricted export volumes for April and May to ensure ample reserves for domestic use. For the sake of maintaining cooperative relations with neighboring countries and within the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) framework, Vietnam’s government has been conducting bilateral negotiations with the region’s net rice importers to secure special government-supply agreements.
According to Vietnam’s deputy minister for agriculture and development, the Philippines, which imports 90 percent of its rice from the country, will be one of the first to be informed of the exception to this temporary restriction as Manila awaits delivery of about 1.2 million metric tonnes of rice. Other regional net exporters that have imposed such export restrictions, including Myanmar and Cambodia as top-ten global rice exporters, are similarly negotiating such agreements with the region’s net importers.
Thailand, the world’s second largest rice exporter, on the other hand, remains open for new business as its regional competitors close down international rice sales. The Thai government announced that sufficient rice was cultivated to meet its annual export target, normally around 10 million tonnes yearly, on top of its domestic consumption of a similar quantity, even in the face of a debilitating drought that’s lasted since November last year. The price of Thai white rice 5 percent broken, which is an Asian export benchmark, has risen over 25 percent this year, even reaching a seven-year high, as India and other exporters imposed export controls. At the beginning of the year, Thailand’s rice export prospects were relatively gloomy, but a complete about-turn materialized when the coronavirus outbreak arose'.

FAO rice price update for May 2020 sort of agrees. More sales at higher prices:

'The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) increased by 15.9 points (7 percent) in April 2020 to reach 248.2 points, it’s highest level since December 2011.
...
Asian markets were still reeling from the impact of sudden surges in domestic demand spurred by concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, when the late March suspension of new export contracts in Viet Nam was followed by news of Cambodia prohibiting Indica and paddy exports and of Myanmar temporarily halting the issuance of new export licenses. Logistical constraints linked to quarantine measures, particularly in India, compounded on the uncertain export policy environment, driving prices up across most Asian origins and qualities. Asian quotations began receding only mid-way through April, when Viet Nam instated an export quota, successively expanding it and ultimately deciding to repeal all export restrictions as of 1 May, and when Indian exports regained momentum as bottlenecks began to clear'. 

Agreed
Back to some of the related action. The Bangkok Post (Apr. 23) reports on domestic actions:

'Packaged rice manufacturers and distributors yesterday agreed to cut their prices by as much as 50%, as requested by the Commerce Ministry'.

But the threat of a sellers market, seems to have ebbed away. The Phnom Penh Post (Apr. 30) on Vietnam:

'Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday agreed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT’s) proposal to resume rice export from May 1, in accordance with Decree 107/2018/ND-CP on rice export business'.

Two weeks later, Cambodia follows suit. The Phnom Penh Post (May 13):

'The government has decided to allow the rice industry to resume exports of white rice to global markets after a ban was issued in March.
The lifting of the ban comes as the Philippines seeks to import an additional 300,000 tonnes of milled rice from major producers in Southeast Asia.
The decision is in response to a request by the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) to gradually resume white rice exports from May 20, said a letter sent from the Ministry of Economy and Finance to the CRF on Wednesday and signed by Minister Aun Pornmoniroth.
In March, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a temporary suspension of white rice and paddy exports to ensure adequate domestic supply, food security and price stability in the Kingdom during the Covid-19 pandemic'.

So are we now back where we started?

Edge

Meanwhile the non-Covid related news on rice and Cambodia.

Phnom Penh Post (May 3) notes how the rice related statistics are on the up:

'Cambodia exported 300,252 tonnes of rice to the international market in the first four months of this year – equivalent to $210 million – the highest export volume in the past decade, the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) said in a report.
The export volume is 40.46 per cent over the 213,763 tonnes reported in the same period last year, it said.
China accounted for 41 per cent of exports or 122,094 tonnes, the EU and the UK 32 per cent or 97,337 tonnes, ASEAN countries 13 per cent or 37,428 tonnes and other countries 14 per cent or 43,339 tonnes.
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng told The Post on Sunday that rice exports have reached 48.41 per cent of last year’s total exports. The spread of Covid-19 has led to a higher demand for food and storage in all countries, he said'.

Reports galore, hopefully not all following concern the same. The Phnom Penh Post (May 12):

'The government and the private sector are jointly studying the feasibility of lowering paddy production costs and refining milled rice export plans to increase the competitiveness of Cambodia’s market.
Ministry of Commerce secretary of state Sok Sopheak on Monday said ongoing discussions are aimed at identifying the challenges and giving the Kingdom’s rice sector a competitive edge'.

The Khmer Times (May 13) runs an article

'The Ministry of Commerce and development partner – CAVAC (Cambodia Agriculture Value Chain Programme) – have reviewed a study on rice export cost, aiming to enhance the competitiveness of Cambodia’s rice export'.

But not yet published. 

Oh yes, same source, same day even, but different article:

'The Ministry of Commerce and Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) are continuing working to solve the long-running challenges of the Kingdom’s high cost of electricity and transportation in order to boost the country’s rice industry.
...
The Ministry said that the main challenges for Cambodia rice exports include the high cost of electricity, the high cost of transportation, fee costs at ports and the cost of shipping from ports to the destinations'.

Pity to have spent money researching this. It's been this case like since always.

Strict

Cassave remains on the up. The Phnom Penh Post (Apr. 29):

'Cambodia exported 1,115,365 tonnes of cassava to the international market in the first three months of this year, inching up around 1.6 per cent from 1,097,803 in the year-ago period, said a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries'.

 Khmer Times (May 7) on cashew:

'Cambodia exported 186,205 tonnes of cashew nut to foreign markets in the first four months of this year, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries'.

Rubber acts as expected, a downwards spiral. The Phnom Penh Post (April 16):

'Rubber exports in the first three months of this year declined sharply as a result of tightened measures at border checkpoints to prevent the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease, plantation owners and exporters have said.
Long Sreng International Co Ltd general manager Heng Sreng told The Post on Monday that his company exported a very small amount of rubber in the first three months of the year due to restrictions on the Cambodian border with Vietnam.
Long Sreng International owns the Boeung Ket Rubber Plantation in Stung Trang district’s Prek Kak commune in Kampong Cham province.
Over the past three months, the company has exported 50 tonnes of rubber to the international market, down from the year-ago figures of between 250 and 300 tonnes, he said'.

Novelty. The Khmer Times (May 7):

'A local investor has created a large-scale dragon farm community in Preah Vihear province in response to local and export demand.
Cambodian agronomist Yang Siang Koma and local partners are planning to grow 1 million dragon fruit trees covering 1,000 hectares of land in Sambor Neak community.
“We expect ultimately to create 3,000 to 10,000 jobs for residents,” he said, adding that the fruit has great potential in the market, noting that Vietnam exported $1 billion of the fruit to international markets last year'.

Not all fruits are on the up. The Khmer Times (May 1) reports on difficulties  with exporting mango, though not really naming what the problem is:

'Mong Reththy Group (MRG), the largest local agribusiness company, and Korean mango exporter Hyundai Agro are discussing ways to seek a solution for mango exports.
Chang-Hoon Lee, managing director of Hyundai Agro, told Khmer Times yesterday that both sides have discussed the current situation of the local mango market.
“We agreed to exchange skills, techniques and know- how to each other. We [Hyundai] will support MRG to follow the guidelines to meet South Korea’s regulations because the Korea market is very strict with chemicals and records, plus worm and disease control when it comes to such fruit exports,” he said'.

Pepper received quite some newsprint. Phnom Penh Post (May 11):

'April marked 10 years since Kampot pepper became the first product to receive Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Ministry of Commerce.
Due to its high price and market favour resulting from its GI label, local farmers and investors are engaged in cultivating pepper in provinces across the Kingdom.
But market demand is very uncertain as the price of pepper not from Kampot or Kep, the two provinces recognised as legitimate areas to grow Kampot pepper, has plummeted, frustrating farmers.
Data from the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA) shows that membership has increased to 455 families from 118 in 2010.
The number of wooden stakes, which farmers anchor into the ground for the pepper plants to grow around, used by its members has increased from 27,012 in 2010 to 727,317 this year.
Land designated for Kampot pepper cultivation has increased from 1ha in 2010 to 251ha today – exclusively in Kampot and Kep – and more than 100 tonnes of the prized pepper was produced last year.
The data also indicated that prices have increased significantly. Black pepper cost $5.75 per kg in 2010, while red pepper was priced at $10 per kg and white pepper cost $12 per kg.
The prices currently stand at $15 per kg for black pepper, $25 per kg for red pepper and $28 per kg for white pepper'.

Trust

Then that final paragraph in which we pull all that unrelated together. But maybe not so today.

First some Khmer related news. The Khmer Times (Apr. 28) notes that the government sees some interest in the organic growing sides of things:

'The government has announced it will launch rules and a special logo to certify food is organic.
...
Chan Pich, general manager of Signature of Asia, welcomed the move. He said currently only the private sector certifies organic standards for agricultural products in Cambodia. However, having a national organic standard is good because Cambodia wants to work within ASEAN organic standards, to have a proper logo for local products and have proper guidelines to build trust among producers and consumers'.

That said, the Phnom Penh Post (May 5) states that the kingdom is importing more and more of the non-organic:

'Cambodia imported more than 1.2 million tonnes of agricultural fertilisers and chemical pesticides in 2019, up more than nine per cent from 1.1 million tonnes in 2018, said a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Of that, more than 1.14 million tonnes were fertilisers and 81,097 tonnes were chemical pesticides, it said.
The Kingdom imports more than 90,000 tonnes per month of about 2,600 types of fertilisers and pesticides to serve the agricultural sector'.

Then bringing into mind that we are a blog on hybrid rice and all it entails. The past we have had the opportunity to target Monsanto and it's new parent company Bayer. Responsibletechnology (Apr. 29) foresees doom:

'For Bayer’s Annual General Meeting yesterday, Monsanto investigator Jeffrey Smith predicted that Bayer will face possible bankruptcy from a new wave of lawsuits linking Roundup herbicide to numerous diseases, and that the current expected payout of up to $12 billion to more than 50,000 plaintiffs with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is only the beginning'. 

Lies and Statistics

Possibly getting lost in the current day all-encompassing reporting on Covid-19, Stop Golden Rice Network on their Facebook page posts (Apr. 4) their call to IRRI:

'IRRI on its 60th anniversary continues to boast about its supposed impacts on reducing poverty and increasing food security. Entering the third year of implementing its Strategic Plan for 2017-2025, IRRI, whose claim is to be the most trusted source of knowledge for the global rice industry and custodian of genetic resources, has set out plans to solve problems by doing ‘deep research’, further widespread adaptation of innovations and technologies and policy interventions on the rice sector .
However IRRI, the self-proclaimed “home of the Green Revolution in Asia”, is becoming increasingly irrelevant, as it has failed miserably in its mission to “improve livelihoods and nutrition, abolishing poverty, hunger and malnutrition among those who depend on rice-based agri-food systems.”Although the Green Revolution did actually raise production substantially, it was only for a short period of time and at a heavy cost.
IRRI’s next phase of activities would further entrench the hold of corporations on the rice industry. Dubbed as the Gene Revolution, IRRI is now concentrating on the widespread adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops, specifically Golden Rice. Based on the ‘4th industrial revolution’ model, IRRI’s research agenda is now tapping into ‘Big Data’, which will be of great use to corporations striving to earn more profits. It is also pushing for the ‘modernization’ of agriculture, where farming without farmers would be the new trend.
With the theme “Going Beyond Rice”, IRRI is gearing for another phase of its agenda to further the interests of huge agrocorporations through its Six Lies:
LIE #1: IRRI delivers through research excellence
TRUTH: IRRI’s top-down approach has eroded farmers’ knowledge and genetic diversity
....
LIE #2: IRRI is an honest advisor for the global rice industry
TRUTH: IRRI has imposed anti-small farmer policies across the globe
...
LIE #3: IRRI has strong relations with its community
TRUTH: IRRI has violated the rights of its workers and peasants
...
LIE #4: IRRI sets the bar for sustainable rice systems
TRUTH: IRRI has poisoned the people and destroyed the environment
...
LIE #5: IRRI is a wise steward of resources
TRUTH: IRRI has ushered in corporate control of seeds and agriculture
...
LIE #6: Improve livelihoods and nutrition, abolishing poverty, hunger and malnutrition
TRUTH: IRRI has created widespread food insecurity
...
OUR RESOUNDING CALL!
On the anniversary of IRRI’s six decades of operation we are renewing our call for an agriculture that puts farmers at the center and gives value to agrobiodiversity and food sovereignty. Conditions are favorable to heightening our struggle for food sovereignty - the power of people and their communities to assert and realize the right to food and to produce food and to fight the power of corporations and other forces that destroy the people’s food production systems and deny them food and life is growing. Let us demand that states exercise food sovereignty to protect, promote and develop the food sovereignty of the people from which they draw their power.
On IRRI’s 60th anniversary: No more lies, not one more year for IRRI!

Luckily I'm able to summarise in the above; it's a very damming report on IRRI's past and exposes its' weaknesses ahead. Should we consider IRRI's silence, an agreement with the above?

Health

Let's look at more politics, this time how capitalism is working. Not for us.

Guardian (Mar. 12) has another take on Monsanto, apparently they finance independent research:

'Monsanto secretly funded academic studies indicating “very severe impacts” on farming and the environment if its controversial glyphosate weedkiller were banned, an investigation has found.
The research was used by the National Farmers’ Union and others to successfully lobby against a European ban in 2017. As a result of the revelations, the NFU has now amended its glyphosate information to declare the source of the research.
...
Bayer said farmers around the globe rely on glyphosate to provide enough food for the world’s growing population. But campaigners claim Monsanto has defended the product by ghostwriting research papers for regulators and using front groups to discredit critical scientists and journalists. In 2017, the Guardian revealed that EFSA based its recommendation that glyphosate was safe on an EU report that copied and pasted analyses from a Monsanto study'.

More disclosures. The Guardian (Mar. 29):

'The US agriculture giant Monsanto and the German chemical giant BASF were aware for years that their plan to introduce a new agricultural seed and chemical system would probably lead to damage on many US farms, internal documents seen by the Guardian show.
Risks were downplayed even while they planned how to profit off farmers who would buy Monsanto’s new seeds just to avoid damage, according to documents unearthed during a recent successful $265m lawsuit brought against both firms by a Missouri farmer.
The documents, some of which date back more than a decade, also reveal how Monsanto opposed some third-party product testing in order to curtail the generation of data that might have worried regulators.
And in some of the internal BASF emails, employees appear to joke about sharing “voodoo science” and hoping to stay “out of jail”.
The new crop system developed by Monsanto and BASF was designed to address the fact that millions of acres of US farmland have become overrun with weeds resistant to Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weedkillers, best known as Roundup. The collaboration between the two companies was built around a different herbicide called dicamba'.

Mongabay (Apr. 1) gives us a different insight, this time from Brazil where pesticide companies are getting healthy tax breaks:

'Imagine starting out the year having to pay your property taxes, your car taxes or any other taxes. Imagine getting to the supermarket and receiving a 40% discount on shampoo and 30% on tomato sauce. Imagine being able to take out a bank loan with interest well below that of the market
This is more or less what companies that manufacture and sell pesticides operate in Brazil, protected by a package of benefits that, counting just tax exemptions and reductions, add up to nearly R$10 billion (US$ 2.2 billion) every year, according to an unprecedented study carried out by ABRASCO, the Brazilian Association of Collective Health, executed by researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz foundation and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro.
The amount that the Brazilian government fails to collect because of tax exemptions on pesticides is nearly four times as much as the Ministry of the Environment’s total budget this year (R$2.7 billion, or US$ 600 milllion) and more than double what the nation’s national health system [SUS] spent to treat cancer patients in 2017 (R$4.7 billion, or US$ 1 billion)'.

Panic

Before the madness, the Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 2) looked at where the rice market was heading.

'Cambodian rice exports to international markets grew sharply by more than 21 per cent in the first two months of this year despite fears of the Covid-19 pandemic causing global concern.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhorn released the data last week, noting in the first two months of 2020, Cambodian rice exports to international markets reached 136,499 tonnes, an increase of 21.34 per cent compared to the same period last year.
China is the leading market for rice from Cambodia, with a market share of 37.43 per cent, followed by the European market at 30.31 per cent, Asean region at 18.48 per cent and other destinations at 13.78 per cent.
According to the data, exports to the Chinese market in the first two months of 2020 were 51,092 tonnes, an increase of 17.58 per cent compared to the 2019’s 43,452 tonnes.
Exports to the European market reached 41,373 tonnes, a 21.79 per cent increase from 33,969 tonnes.
The Asean region stood at 25,231 tonnes, up 39.77 per cent from 18,051 tonnes, and other regions hit 18,803 tonnes, up 28.7 per cent from 14,609 tonnes.
...
According to a CRF report, in 2019, Cambodia exported 620,106 tonnes of rice to international markets, down 0.97 per cent from 626,225 tonnes in 2018'.

But then life as we know it changed. Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 8) notes early last month how panic might be creeping in:

'As fears of Covid-19 drive people to stockpile food, some fear supermarkets may run out of essential commodities like rice.
To avert this scenario, the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has announced that it will be supplying an extra 100-500 tonnes of rice to shops in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng on Sunday told The Post that the additional rice will ensure the price of the commodity doesn’t skyrocket.
Yeng urged Cambodians to remain calm. “Please don’t panic. We have plenty of rice. Together, all our members have over 400,000 tonnes of rice in stock. We will make it available at an affordable price,” he said'.

Then as the Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 19) notes, this supplying local markets has helped:

'The Green Trade Company and the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) on Wednesday said increasing the supply of milled rice in the local market has helped stabilise prices as the country faces the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, a significant number of people were reported to be stockpiling staple goods like rice in fear that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus could lead to shortages.
CRF vice-president Chan Sokheang told The Post that to prevent shortages of important commodities like rice, the government and the private sector were working together to increase shipments of the grain to local shops by 100 to 500 tonnes'.

But it still doesn't mean that the future stocks could be enough, so the Khmer PM announces as follows. The Khmer Times (Mar. 31):

'Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered a stop to all exports of white rice and paddy from April 5 until further notice. Speaking at the news conference after the parliamentary session yesterday, Mr Hun Sen said the decision was made to safeguard local supply in response to COVID-19 food shortage fears'.

So no exports. What happens? The Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 31):

'As a ban on white rice and paddy exports is set to go into effect this weekend, Vietnamese traders seize the moment to buy in bulk, buoying prices beyond what local rice millers and traders are able to pay.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday ordered the suspension of white rice and paddy exports from Cambodia from 11:59pm on April 5, on the grounds of securing domestic supplies while Covid-19 is continuing to spread in Cambodia.
He told the Ministry of Economy and Finance to look into the possibility of disbursing funds to millers to buy paddy from those who had previously sold it to traders in neighbouring countries.
...
State-owned Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) encourages all companies and rice millers to continue to purchase OM 5451 and IR 85 (504) paddy from farmers at market prices following the ban, it said in a press release on Monday.
ARDB executive director Kao Thach said it has always supported the agricultural sector by disbursing money to rice millers so that they can purchase additional paddy for stock.
“When the government sets a moratorium on exports, the ARDB must work hard to help the government achieve its plan.
“We are currently preparing the bank’s capital for disbursement to helping rice millers buy paddy from farmers,” Thach said.
He said 70-80 per cent of ARDB’s capital is currently allocated to the rice sector.
Last year, the Kingdom exported around 2.15 million tonnes of paddy to Vietnam, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries data shows'.

Meanwhile, the bellweather of rice exports, had initially this response.  The Bangkok Post (Mar. 3):

'Rice prices are expected to rise until the middle of the year as global consumers are beefing up their stockpiles, with China unlikely to rev up its rice exports for food security in light of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of Thai Rice Exporters Association, said global rice demand has surged since the deadly virus outbreak, leading rice prices to increase by US$30-50 since early in the year.
"People, particularly in the US, Europe and Asia, are staying home, while China, which controls a massive rice stock of up to 120 million tonnes, has halted exports after shipping 3 million tonnes priced about $100 per tonne lower than Thai grains last year," he said'.

But a month later they are more cautious it seems. Bangkok Post (Apr. 2):

'Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office under the Commerce Ministry, said her office has been monitoring global rice markets during the pandemic, with many key rice exporters such as India, China and Vietnam halting shipments to ensure sufficient food domestically.
Ms Pimchanok said Thailand is unlikely to experience any food or rice shortages, as domestic consumer demand accounts for just 50% of total production.
"Exports represent only 32% of the country's rice production every year, with domestic consumption accounting for 50% and the remainder slated for inventory," she said. "If export demand increases and domestic consumption rises as more people stay home, a shortage is unlikely.
"Our existing rice stocks can accommodate domestic rice consumption for up to six months until the next annual harvest season. Nevertheless, the ministry has requested the private sector help maintain stocks to ensure adequate domestic supply."

The FAO Rice Price Update for April notes the market in the upswing, but for how long?

'The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) rose for the third successive month in March 2020, reaching 232 points, up 1.7 percent from February and 4.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Indica prices drove the increase, as Japanese purchases provided only mild support (0.7 percent) to March Japonica values, while the Aromatic Index fell by 3.1 percent to a three-year low of 198 points, on weak Near Eastern demand'.

Lacking

Then a lengthy article from the Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 20) which delves in the climate change adaptation projects of the Khmer nation:

'Dust swirls in the distance of vast rice fields flanking north-connecting National Road 6. It signals the start of the dry season in Cambodia. There is no human activity, as the heat is stifling.
March to June are the hottest months. The balmy days can hit 43 Celcius, triggering the brisk sale of air conditioners and fans in the cities. In the provinces though, farming communities brace for the harsh weather.
Every year, the drought is said to be longer than the previous year although rainfall is projected to rise in wet seasons. Most times the outcome is different.
...
Agriculture infrastructures have been built in farming provinces, with many in the pipeline but these architectures lack insight.
Seen as game changers to rice production, with the likelihood of raising output, irrigation canals are only so good as being connected to a water source.
As of 2008, rice farming constituted 2.6 million hectares out of 3.31 million hectares of arable land.
Permanent crops and rubber plantations made up less than one million hectares.
Out of the total land, only seven to eight per cent is irrigated while 10 per cent is supplementary irrigated. The remaining 80 per cent relies on rainfall.
In 2017, 28.5 per cent of the national climate budget was spent on irrigation, the highest allocation compared to other climate-related segments such as road improvement, climate-affected livelihood, and climate disaster preparedness and management.
...
However, this data is a rough estimate procured from various sources, as the authorities claim its disclosure is sensitive, even though the rice sector forms the nation’s second largest export market.
The fact that the farming industry teeters on the onslaught of climate change with secretive figures, questionable budget allocations for climate projects and the lack of initiative to see them through, is somewhat damning.
In Cambodia, about 75 per cent of the population is involved in the agriculture sector. The sector contributed 32.1 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011.
Having said that, the Climate Change Strategic Plan (2014-2023) identifies agriculture as being the most affected by it, with 90 per cent of losses from extreme events related to crop harvest failure.
And this impact is closely connected to water resources shortage.
It also threatens Cambodia’s food security, and hits on the poverty level as crop damage and lower wages can push the highly indebted communityfurther below the line.
Given the gravity of the impact, the government has been gradually increasing climate change expenditure.
Its proportion to the GDP, the expenditure rose marginally to one per cent in 2017 from 0.9 per cent a year ago, underpinned by larger external and domestic fundings.
In absolute terms, total climate expenditure rose 23 per cent to 912 billion riel ($221 million) in 2017 from 770 billion riel in 2016.
Unfortunately, only 10 per cent was spent on the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
Despite the increased allocation, the sum is paltry compared to the total national budget of 20,556 billion riel in 2017, and when balanced against the actual benefit to combating climate change.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Climate Public Expenditure Review 2017 (CPER) revealed that once climate change relevance weights are applied to the budget, it only constituted 3.2 per cent of the total public expenditure, the same level in 2016. It dipped from 4.3 per cent in 2015.
...
The limited ownership of climate action plans in the ministries and its implementation is perhaps related to underfunding, suggests the mid-term review of Climate Change Strategic Plan in 2019.
For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ technical working group, which was created to develop the climate action plan, was unclear of its function after the plan was approved.
...
Moving forward, with the unpredictable weather wreaking havoc in the agriculture sector, coupled with weak climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, more farmers might just turn in their tools than risk taking a gamble year after year'.

Sliced

Looking farther afield, let's start with the Khmer Times (Apr. 3) summing up the nations exports, including rice:

'Agricultural commodities amounting to US$2.9 million were exported to foreign markets in the first quarter of this year, a 20 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

A report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries showed that the agricultural commodities exported comprises rice, dry sliced cassava, fresh cassava, cassava starch, cashew, fresh banana, soybean, mangoes, pepper and rubber.

The main products of export during the period were paddy rice (849,382 tons), dry sliced cassava (864,620 tons), fresh cassava (689,122 tons), milled rice (230,948 tons), and cashew nuts (121,976 tons)'.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with the above?  Seems like a paltry sum for all what's listed.

But anyway rice 1, cassava 2, cashew 3.

Cashew?

The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 26):

'The Ministry of Commerce has set up a technical-working group to study and compile the Kingdom’s draft cashew nut policy in an effort to promote its production and export, it said in a press release on Tuesday.

The working group comprises thirteen members, including representatives from the ministry and several NGOs.

“The working group is tasked with facilitating meetings and the planning and drafting of an updated advisory report on cashew nut production.

...

Cambodia exported some 202,318 tonnes of cashew nuts last year to foreign markets, up nearly 100 per cent from 2018’s 101,973 tonnes, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report said.

Khan Samban, director of the ministry’s Department of Agro-industry, told The Post last month that the strong growth in exports is due to the ministry’s simplification of export procedures and the commodity’s improved standards.

“Our cashew nuts have a good taste and quality, so we’ve received increased demand from foreign countries,” Samban said.

He said he expects cashew nut prices to be around 5,000 or 6,000 riel per kilogramme in the early harvest season this year'.

The Khmer Times (Mar. 30) chimes in:

'A representative of a cashew growing association has said that market prices for the fruit have dramatically decreased in the last fortnight, blaming border restrictions and a reduction in demand.

Oum Ourn, head of Sambo Prei Kuk Cashew Nut Association in Kampong Thom province, speaking to Khmer Times said that the 380 farming families that he represents are struggling to deal with a nearly 50-percent reduction in what they can sell cashew nuts for.

Before COVID-19’s detrimental effects on the agriculture sector, on average, cashew nuts normally fetched from between 4,000 riel (about $1) to 5,000 (about $1.25) a kilogramme (kg), but now the fruit is priced at around 2,500 riel ($0.62) per kg'.

Spotted

Ok, but I'm missing rubber ...

The Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 10) has a comprehensive article on the crops outlook:

'The government has reduced taxes on rubber exports to minimise the impact of a fall in the international price of the commodity.

A sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday stipulates that exports of rubber valued under $1,400 per tonne are not taxable. Shipments valued between $1,400 and $3,500 per tonne will be taxed $25 to $200 per tonne.

...

Cambodia exported 282,071 tonnes of rubber last year, a 30 per cent increase from 2018’s 217,501 tonnes, according to official figures. The commodity reeled in $377 million in revenue last year, up 32 per cent from 2018’s $286 million.

A total of 406,142ha of rubber were planted last year, of which 247,113ha were harvested'.

Adding to the info, there's this concerning Laos from the Vientiane Times (Mar. 2)

'The export value of rubber from Laos has increased, while the market price of the commodity is also rising, meaning the commodity is enjoying renewed commercial success.

Laos earned US$153.4 million from rubber exports in 2017, rising to US$168.1 million in 2018 and to almost US$217.5 million last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

But the crop fell to second place as an agricultural export earner after topping the list in 2018. The export value of buffalo and cattle hit the top spot last year[!].

In 2017 the price of rubber slumped to 3,000-4,000 kip per kg due to an oversupply on the global market, but is now selling for 5,000-6,000 kip, according to agriculture officials.

The export value of rubber is increasing as the number of rubber trees being tapped increases.

But low market prices in recent years caused some growers to abandon the crop in favour of other commodities.

Hundreds of hectares of rubber trees have been cut down to make way for other crops.

Many rubber growers, especially in the northern provinces, have been struggling because of the low market price.

Last year, Laos received a larger order from China for the purchase of rubber grown in Luang Namtha province.

In 2017, China ordered 10,000 tonnes of rubber Laos, but this year the quota increased to 20,000 tonnes, local commercial authorities reported.

Even though China is suffering disruption due to the Covid-19 outbreak, rubber shipments from Luang Namtha to China are proceeding as normal.

Laos currently has almost 300,000 hectares of rubber trees under cultivation including company-owned plantations and trees owned by local growers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reported.

The rubber price in Laos peaked at 15,000-20,000 kip per kilogram in 2010, with major export markets being China, Vietnam and Thailand.

The export value of rubber sold by Laos to China last year hit US$96.66 million and US$119.9 million worth of rubber was sold to Vietnam, but no figures were recorded for Thailand in 2018 and 2019'.

Warm 

Then, also mentioned were mangoes, an upcoming crop. The Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 3) gives an overview:

'Signatures of Asia, a local exporter, plans to begin shipping mangoes to Europe and Canada in the near future.

Before exporting the fruit, the firm needs to find packaging facilities that meet Europe and Canada’s quality standards, Signatures of Asia general manager Chan Pich said.

“We have clients in Europe and Canada that want to buy fresh Cambodian mangoes. They said they want to sell our mangoes in their stores because they taste great,” Pich said.

“We are now looking for advanced packaging plants that comply with European and Canada’s hygiene and quality standards,” he said.

“Cambodian mango tastes great but, unlike Thailand or Vietnam, Cambodia lacks packing facilities,” he said.

The company is aiming to export 3.5 tonnes of fresh mangoes per week to the European Union and Canada.

...

Kirirom Food Product (KFP) Co Ltd sales manager Mao Khunthea told The Post on Tuesday that her company exports dry mango to China, Europe, Australia, and Thailand.

“We sell the mango at about 800 riel per kilogram,” she said, noting that her company uses about 50 tonnes of mangoes every day.

Last year, Cambodia exported 58,162 tonnes of fresh mangoes to six markets – Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, France, Russia and Hong Kong.

There are more than 100,000ha of mango farms in the country. Kampong Speu, Battambang, Kampot and Banteay Meanchey provinces are known for having the best mango in Cambodia'.

And there's more. The Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 12):

'Cambodian mango is proving popular among Korean consumers, the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) said, encouraging more local firms to export the fruit to the East Asian country.

Speaking with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon on Tuesday, Kotra director-general Jongsoo Shin said Koreans greatly enjoy Cambodian mangoes.

“Fresh mango from Cambodia enjoys a warm welcome in South Korea. This will help attract more Korean investors to Cambodia,” he said.

Exports of Cambodian mangoes to South Korea begun in January after Korean authorities approved shipments of the fruit'.

But there is also a change coming. The Khmer Times (Apr. 12):

'The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has issued measures to prevent the drop in price of mangoes, which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the ministry.
...
The price of mangoes strongly decreased during this period because some processing factories have been temporarilyy closed, causing an oversupply during the harvest season and fewer buyers.
According to the ministry, the price of mangoes currently is 320 riels a kilogramme, down from 800 riels in 2019. The Ministry said that currently about 20 to 30 tonnes of mangoes are bought every day by companies.
There are more than 100,000 hectares of land planted with mango trees in Cambodia, mostly in Kampong Speu, Kampot, Battambang, and Banteay Meanchey provinces'.

Average

Straight into Cambodia's rice business.

The Kingdom is still looking at last year's data. The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 9) looks at rice export data:

'Cambodia exported 50,450 tonnes of rice worth $39 million to the international market in January, down 15.39 per cent compared to the same period in 2018, Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) secretary-general Lun Yeng said on Sunday.
Yeng told The Post that Cambodian rice exports to the European market last month decreased 5,269 tonnes (22 per cent) year-on-year since the EU Commission introduced safeguard measures last year on rice imports from the Kingdom.
Last month’s rice exports to China decreased 3,664 tonnes (20 per cent) year-on-year, he said.
“Cambodian rice exports to the EU market are set to increase in the coming months, thanks to a drop in taxes on rice imports from €175 to €150 [$190 to $160] per tonne, which will take effect in mid-February,” he said.
Customs duty to the EU for last year stood at €175 per tonne and will be reduced to €150 this year and to €125 next year'.

While the Khmer Times (Jan. 28) is still looking at production. And then export:

'Some 7.9 million tons of wet season paddy rice were harvested in 2019 while the milled rice export was reported at 620,106 tons, registering a year-on-year decrease of about 1 percent.
China is the Kingdom’s biggest rice market purchasing 248,105 tons, followed by France and Gabon with 81,905 tons and 36,663 tons, respectively. Though the quota to China is 400,000 tons for 2019, exports fell way below target for the second consecutive year.
The dry season rice production, the report stated, were achieved at 528,136 hectares, equal to 114 percent of the yearly target.
Cambodia produced 7.4 million tonnes of paddy rice in 2018, a 3.5 percent increase. Total production in 2018 was only 88.47 percent of what the government expected, adding that 2.4 million hectares were harvested out of 2.7 million hectares of available agricultural land.
On average, each hectare produced 3.07 tonnes of rice, the report says, noting that in 2006 the average yield was only 2.6 tonnes'.

Slightly odd, it's foreign press that report on the following. Vietnamplus (Feb. 11): 

'Cambodia shipped 50,450 tonnes of rice worth 39 million USD to foreign markets in January, a year-on-year decline of 15.39 percent, according to the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF).
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng said that exports to the European market, the largest importer of Cambodian rice, in the month fell 22 percent year on year to 5,269 tonnes since the EU Commission introduced safeguard measures last year on rice imports from the country'.
However, Lun Yeng said rice exports to the European market are set to increase in the coming months, thanks to a drop in taxes on rice imports from 175 EUR (190.99 USD) per tonne last year to 150 EUR this year'. 

Further afield. Reuters (Feb. 18) reports on Vietnam's rice-related data. But they are for the year ahead:

'Vietnam expects to export 6.75 million tonnes of rice this year, up 6% from last year, Vietnam Food Association Vice Chairman Do Ha Nam said on Tuesday.
“Demand is seen rising this year as Vietnamese rice is more competitive in terms of prices,” Nam told Reuters, adding that the coronavirus epidemic in China had had no impact on shipments of Vietnamese rice to China'.

Tons

Looking at other crops, the Khmer Times (Feb. 18) has a mention of hybrids, but in maize:

'The Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries has approved the first Cambodian hybrid maize, named CHM01, for public use throughout the Kingdom'.

More data from the Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 3); that of cassava:

'The price of cassava in provinces bordering Thailand remains steady during the 2019-2020 harvest season which is currently about 60 per cent complete, officials said.
Cambodia’s cassava is mostly grown in Battambang, Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Kratie and Kampong Thom provinces. The crop is planted in May and harvested between November and the end of February each year.
Battambang provincial Department of Commerce director Kim Hout said on Monday that the average price at which the province’s farmers sold their crops this year was a little higher than last year.
Fresh cassava goes for 250-260 riel (6.1-6.4 US cents) per kilogramme while dry ones sell for 700-720 riel, Hout said.
He said about 80 per cent of Battambang province’s cassava is exported to Thailand, while another 20 per cent is sold to Vietnam by traders.
During this harvest season, the province has 112,543ha cultivated with cassava, with an average yield of 26.43 tonnes per hectare, a report from the Battambang provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said'.

The Khmer Times (Jan. 27) on rubber:

'Cambodia exported 282,071 tons of dry rubber in 2019, an increase of 30 percent from 217,501 tons in the year before, according to Agriculture Ministry on Sunday.
The Southeast Asian nation made a gross revenue of roughly 377 million U.S. dollars from exports of the commodity last year, up 31.8 percent from 286 million U.S. dollars in a year earlier, said the ministry’s annual report.
“A ton of dry rubber averagely cost 1,336 U.S. dollars in 2019, about 19 U.S. dollars higher than that of 2018,” the report said'.

The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 20) adds data to our rubber knowledge, but only concerning January 2020:

'Cambodia exported 27,445 tonnes of rubber worth $40 million in the first month of the year, up 17 per cent compared to the same period last year, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official Khuon Phalla told The Post on Thursday.
Phalla, who is the director of the General Directorate of Rubber’s Department of Administration and Legislation under the ministry, said production also increased last month.
An increase in global demand was the main driver of the industry’s growth last month, he said, as China remains the largest market for the Kingdom’s rubber.
The average price last month was $1,433 per tonne, up $207 from December. “I expect that the price of rubber will continue to increase over the next few months,” he said'.

Khmer Times (Feb. 15) has data on last years mango:

'Cambodia exported more than 58,000 tonnes of mangos to various international markets in 2019 and is mulling the expansion and diversification of the exports'.

Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 26) has news on possible expansion of Cambodia's coffee plantations:

'Bangkok-based Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP) has expressed interest in growing coffee in Cambodia to meet the Thai market’s growing demand.
In a meeting with Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak on Friday, a CP representative said even though Thailand is one of the world’s biggest coffee bean producers, demand is outstripping supply for the domestic market.
The representative said his company is conducting a feasibility study on the coffee crop in Cambodia.
...
Though the Kingdom’s coffee export figures for last year are currently unavailable, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries data shows that Cambodia exported 2.25 tonnes of coffee beans in 2018, a 15.14 per cent drop from 2017’s 2.66 tonnes.
In 2016, the Kingdom exported 2.25 tonnes of coffee beans, data showed'.

Thailand was listed as the number 25 in coffee production (2018, source), hardly one of the world's biggest producers.

Finally, there was this positive-for-trading news. The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 19): 

'The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has announced that rice exporters and agro-product exporters can now attain sanitary and phytosanitary certificates at one window service centres to streamline the process'.

Crucial 

Non-rice and non-Khmei. 

The Vientiane Times (Jan. 29) reports on expansion of organics:

'The Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department is planning to build a permanent market for use by organic farmers, in Nonghai village, Hadxaifong district.
The market would set up a formal system to regulate supplies and prices, and provide farmers with a convenient point of sale for their produce.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo told the media the ministry is handing over responsibility to the department for the construction of the market.
...
The farmers’ market currently takes place at Lao-ITECC two days a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Department officials said the market encourages farmers to produce safe and chemical-free products to ensure the health of consumers.
There are now 17 organic farmers’ groups with a total of 313 household members, farming 175 hectares of land.
Six of the groups come from Hadxaifong district, six from Xaythany district, two from Xaysettha, and one each from Sikhottabong, Naxaithong and Pakngum districts. Together they grow 1,000 tonnes of produce a year.
These groups look set to continue to expand, securing new members and aiming to grow healthy vegetables on arable land around Vientiane'.

An interesting poster on non-timber forest products.

CCL Laos:

'A really interesting poster from The Agrobiodiversity Initiative Project which underlines the importance of Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) for upland families in Laos. The poster highlights the importance of NTFP for household as well as the importance of bush fallow ecosystem which play a crucial role as nearly 30% of NTFPs harvested and 50% of all income from NTFP sales come from shifting cultivation fields and fallows. Overall, the paper demonstrates once again how NTFP value chain constitutes a key component for a sustainable and fair development of northern uplands.#NTFP #LaoUplands #sustainabledevelopmentto download the poster:https://www.researchgate.net/…/339301368_Non-Timber_Forest_…'.

Blocks

Then the big (and messy) business. 

The Guardian (Feb. 6) on chlorpyrifos:

'The world’s largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, an agricultural pesticide linked to brain damage in children, has announced that it will stop producing the chemical by the end of the year.
The announcement on Thursday by Corteva, the corporation formed from a Dow Chemical and DuPont merger, comes after the Trump administration reversed regulatory plans to ban the pesticide and rejected the scientific conclusions of US government experts.
Chlorpyrifos has been widely used on corn, soybeans, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes, walnuts and other crops, but research has repeatedly found serious health effects in children, including impaired brain development. Environmental groups have long advocated for its ban, and the state of California, which grows the majority of the nation’s fruits and nuts, defied Trump and banned the chemical last year.
Corteva said it was ending production due to declining sales. Susanne Wasson, the president of Corteva’s crop protection business, told Reuters it was a “difficult decision”.

PAN Europe (Feb. 11) has an interesting exposé on German labs dealing with studies on glyphosate:

'Fraud in German laboratory casts additional doubts on the 2017 re-approval of glyphosate and on the entire EU pesticide safety evaluation procedure. The Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology (LPT) Hamburg that was found recently to commit fraud in a series of regulatory tests had also carried out many of the tests in the glyphosate re-approval dossier in 2017, new study reveals. At least one in 7 glyphosate regulatory studies, with the certificate “Good Laboratory Practice” (GLP), come from LPT Hamburg, the same laboratory that was caught manipulating GLP toxicity studies by replacing dead animals with living ones, changing tumour data to "inflammations" and generally distorting the data to please its clients. It is highly concerning that GLP studies are still considered the golden scientific standard by regulatory authorities who seem to believe that cheating under GLP is impossible.
PAN Europe asks the European Commission to discard the studies carried out by LPT laboratory from the glyphosate dossier currently undergoing re-evaluation at EU-level, and from any other dossier'.

Then the Guardian (Feb. 20) again, this time of the profits of selling hazadorous pesticides:

'The world’s biggest pesticide companies make billions of dollars a year from chemicals found by independent authorities to pose high hazards to human health or the environment, according to an analysis by campaigners.
The research also found a higher proportion of these highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) in the companies’ sales in poorer nations than in rich ones. In India, 59% of sales were of HHPs in contrast to just 11% in the UK, according to the analysis.
The data from Phillips McDougall, the leading agribusiness analysts, are from buyer surveys focused on the most popular products in the 43 nations that buy the most pesticides. It was obtained and analysed by Unearthed, a journalism group funded by Greenpeace UK, and the Swiss NGO Public Eye.
...
Unearthed used a list of 330 HHPs compiled by Pesticide Action Network International (PAN), based on judgments from authorities such as the US Environmental Protection Agency, European Union bodies, the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants and the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
The FAO and WHO classify some but not all of these pesticides as HHPs on their list and a spokesman for BASF said the PAN list was “inflated”. Keith Tyrell, director of PAN UK, said: “Efforts to strengthen the UN’s approach are consistently blocked by the pesticide industry.”

Challenge

With the new year starting, there are a couple of articles looking at the year past and trying to see what the future could bring.

Khmer Times (Jan. 3) provides an excellent review of last year and future prospects. In short: the sector has lost track, production was slightly off, while growth in trade was non-existent. Possibly as China becomes the new market leader for rice exports, the market might see an upswing. Positive mentions also to organics:

'Cambodia’s rice sector is faced with the challenge of strengthening the quality of its fragrant rice, said Song Saran, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), the recently appointed head of the milled rice export promotion body. “We have to compete,” he says. “The issues we can see include climate change, lack of pure rice seeds and sometimes lack of capital to buy paddy rice,” Mr Saran said.
Cambodia experienced a decline in milled rice exports to the EU this year because of tariff duties imposed by the European Union on Cambodia’s white Indica rice. However, the loss from the EU bloc, the biggest market for the country’s milled rice, has been replaced with increasing export to China and other new markets.
...
Cambodia shipped 174,397 tonnes of rice to the European market during the period, down 26 percent, the report read.
On the other hand, Cambodia exported 205,358 tonnes of milled rice to China during the first 11 months of 2019, up 34 percent over the same period last year, according to the report.
...
Cambodia has a quota of 400,000 tonnes that China allows Cambodia to export. According to the CRF, the quota will be implemented from early 2020.
Last week, the Chinese government allowed 18 new local rice millers to export to China, increasing the number to 44 rice millers exporting to China.
Cooperation with China is good, enabling export amounts to increases by 34 percent as of November 2019 compared with the same period last year, Mr Saran said, adding that almost of 80 percent rice export to China is fragrant rice.
Cambodia’s rice ranks fourth among rice exporters to China out of 12 countries, according to Saran.
...
Soeun, from Ministry of Agriculture, said that the ministry is preparing a policy for organic agricultural practices. We are applying the organic standard of Cambodia,” he says.“Cambodia’s organic rice ranks fifth in the EU and we are committed to competing to become number two or number three there,” Mr Saran said.
For Saran, although facing a number of issues that need to be addressed and enhanced, Cambodia’s ambition of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice would be within reach.
“We designate fragrant rice for promoting exports, which we register under the trademark Malys Angkor. Our rice is quality – our fragrant rice has won the world’s best rice award four times,” Saran said'.

Another attempt is made by Asia Times (Jan.) which sets the tone thus:

'Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector is both literally and figuratively drying up, with drought parching crops and commercial banks refusing liquidity to farmers and millers in need of loans to stay afloat'.

Predicting future climate seems questionable, most of the analysis concerns the past:

'While the rice sector has long faced problems of underfunding and black market dealing, and is increasingly being impacted by environmental change and degradation, its woes have been compounded by European Union (EU) tariffs imposed last year on rice imports from Cambodia.
...
While the total tonnage of Cambodia’s rice exports fell by less than 1% last year, chiefly because of the uptick of exports to China, official data shows that the total financial value of rice shipments fell by 4.3%, down to US$501 million. In other words, exports to China aren’t nearly as profitable as exports to the EU'.

Looking back I see quite a few publications with similar conclusions. Asean Today (Jan. 13) for instance:

'Following the tariff introductions, rice exports from the Kingdom to the EU fell by 30% in 2019. Buyers are using falling exports as an excuse to drive rice prices down.
Choeun Socheat, a rice farmer in Cambodia’s Battambang province, told VOA that rice prices are down to US$232 per ton, US$60 less than the previous year’s rate. “The dealers told us that the price is low because they are buying rice to keep at the rice mills, but not for exporting abroad.”

However when looking at rice price changes (FAO, December 2019 report), export prices for Vietnamese rice (comparable?) were down 17-18% for the 12 months preceding, whereas FAO's own indices are down 5-7%.

So the loss of the aforementioned 4.3% in overall exported value doesn't seem too bad.

One should also note that exports are only a fraction of total production. The Asia Times article f.i. notes:

'The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported last year that some 44% of Cambodia’s rice exports are undocumented and smuggled out of the country, chiefly because millers cannot afford to purchase the entire harvest and growers look to informal brokers for quick cash'.

Let's conclude with what the Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 2) reports on 2019:

'Rice exports reached 620,106 tonnes last year, a drop of almost one per cent from the 626,225 tonnes the previous year, the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF) said.
The total value of exports dropped more than four per cent last year from 2018, the Kingdom’s rice industry body added.
Coupled with the 1.43 per cent decline between 2018 and 2017, the modest drop marks the second consecutive year that exports have fallen.
According to a CRF report obtained by The Post on Wednesday, the total value of the Kingdom’s rice exports were valued at some $501 million last year, down 4.3 per cent from $524 million in 2018.
A breakdown of the data showed that the 202,990 tonnes to the Chinese market accounted for 40.73 per cent of rice exports, followed by 13.41 per cent, or 83,164 tonnes, to the Asean region and 13.84 per cent, equal to 85,847 tonnes, to other markets.
According to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries data, Cambodia also exported 2.15 million tonnes of rice to Vietnam last year'.

Shipped

It should be noted that Cambodia is not the only rice exporter faced with a downward trend. 

The Bangkok Post (Jan. 16):

'Thailand's rice exports in 2020 are forecast to drop to their lowest in seven year, the country's rice exporters group said on Thursday, as the strong baht reduces the competitiveness against other shippers.
Exports from Thailand, the world's second-biggest exporter of the commodity after India, are expected to drop to 7.5 million tonnes this year, the Thai Rice Exporters Association said. That would be the lowest volume since Thailand exported 6.6 million tonnes of rice in 2013.
The grim forecast came after Thailand fell short of its initial 2019 target by exporting 7.8 million tonnes of rice last year'.

Reuters (Jan. 13) though notes that Vietnam is bucking the trend though only slightly:

'Rice exports from Vietnam, the world’s third-largest shipper of the grain, rose 4.2% in 2019 from a year earlier to 6.4 million tonnes, customs data showed on Monday.
However, revenue from rice exports last year dropped 8.3% to $2.8 billion, the Customs Department said in a statement'.

In other rice related news from the region, Thailand's Nation (Jan. 8) has a report on a particular niche:

'Netizens have widely shared a phenomenal photo of a pink rice field in Phitsanulok, wondering if it was for real. It certainly is.
The pink rice field is owned by Naresuan University alumnus Jaturong Chomphusa, who turned his back on an office job three years ago to become a farmer'.

Then an interesting find a vdo from Laos on a labour saving small-scale, low tech rice harvester.

Jumping

Back to Cambodia and some competitive crops.

Cassava. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 9) notes an upswing for cassava growing.

'Cambodia exported 3.29 million tonnes of cassava last year, up 27 per cent from 2018’s 2.59 million tonnes, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report said.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon wrote via Facebook that the Kingdom’s export of agricultural products last year reached more than 6.93 million tonnes, which he estimated to be worth more than $1.9 billion'.

It contrasts with maize. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 7):

'Total corn exports dropped by more than 40 per cent on 2018 due to last year’s drought and pest damage, industry insiders said.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries data showed that last year the Kingdom exported 119,993 tonnes of red corn – down 41.23 per cent on 2018’s 204,184 tonnes.
The exports were mostly to Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, according to the data'.

Not so closely involved in competition, there's also news from f.i. rubber growing. 

Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 31):

'The Kingdom’s rubber exports saw a 24 per cent increase over the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in 2018, data from the General Directorate of Rubber obtained by The Post on Tuesday showed.
Pol Sopha, the director-general of the General Directorate of Rubber, who declined to comment on the reason behind the jump, told The Post on Tuesday that the Kingdom exported 233,677 tonnes of rubber with an export value of $311 million during the period.
The data also showed that 434,552ha of rubber had been planted in the first 11 months of last year, with more than 230,000ha of rubber having been harvested'.

Further rubber news from the Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 12):

'The General Directorate of Rubber announced a joint study on family-owned rubber plantations in three provinces to better understand how growers have responded to the sharp drop in rubber prices over the past nine years.
The average cost of rubber has fallen from around $4,600 per tonne in 2011 to about $1,350 per tonne in early 2020, according to its report'.

Bangkok Post (Jan. 20) though exemplifies that increasing rubber cultivation (as in Cambodia) is not the broader global trend:

'Rubber farmers are set to endure another year of low rubber prices as global uncertainty and a strong baht drive importers to turn off the taps.
The Economic Intelligence Center (EIC) forecasts a gloomy outlook for rubber prices in Thailand this year due to tepid demand from China and increased domestic supply in Thailand'.

Involved

Fruitier news then. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 20):

'As many as 300 tonnes of mango are processed every day in the Kingdom for export, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a report.
It said the industry is dominated by five companies which together use 250-300 tonnes of the fruit per day.
Heng Sreng, the general manager of Boeung Ket Planting and Industrial Co Ltd, one of the companies highlighted in the report, told The Post on Sunday that it buys between 100 and 140 tonnes of mangoes per day at around 750 riel ($0.18) per kilogramme.
“Recently, we have had a chance to buy a lot of mangoes. There is a large supply now as companies in Vietnam and Thailand have temporarily stopped orders due to the holidays [Chinese and Vietnamese New Year],” he said.
Last year, Boeung Ket Planting and Industrial exported between 300 and 400 tonnes of dry mango products, mostly to China.
...
Last year, the Kingdom exported 58,162 tonnes of fresh mango to six markets – Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, France, Russia and Hong Kong.
Ngin Chhay, the director-general of the General Directorate of Agriculture at the ministry, said Cambodia produces four million tonnes of mango annually, with 100,000ha dedicated to the crop'.

Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 5) on banana's:

'The export of yellow bananas to international markets last year reached 157,812 tonnes, most of which was exported to China and the rest to Vietnam and Japan, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report showed.
There is no data on 2018 banana exports to international markets as it mostly comprised of informal exports to Vietnam. However, the ministry said Cambodia exported some 10,000 tonnes to international markets in 2018.
Hun Lak, the director of Longmate Agriculture Co Ltd, which plans to invest in 1,000ha of banana plantations in Kampot province by 2021, said over 400ha of plantations were harvested last year – with 10,000 tonnes of yellow bananas going to China'.

Nuts then. Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 13):

'Cambodia exported some 202,318 tonnes of cashew nuts last year to foreign markets, up nearly 100 per cent from 2018’s 101,973 tonnes, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report said.
Khan Samban, director of the ministry’s Department of Agro-Industry, told The Post that the strong growth in exports is due to the ministry’s simplification of export procedure and the commodity’s improved standards.
“Our cashew nuts have a good taste and quality, so we’ve received increased demand from foreign countries,” Samban said.
He said he expects cashew nut prices to fall to around 5,000 or 6,000 riel ($1.23 or $1.48) per kilogramme in the early harvest season this year. “Cashew nut yield will increase this year due to an increase in cultivation.”

Oddly, news on Vietnam - the world leader in cashew growing and exporting - but from the Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 24):

'Vietnam's cashew sector aims to earn US$4 billion in export turnover next year.
According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), the sector will focus on deep processing, improving quality and diversifying products towards realising the goal.
This year, the sector imported over 1.5 million tonnes of raw materials, mostly from Africa, to meet its processing and production demand.
Mergers and acquisitions have also taken place this year with more and more large-scale enterprises operating in the industry, the association said.
By the end of November, Vietnamese businesses had shipped more than 418,000 tonnes of cashew abroad for almost $3 billion, while this year’s targets are 450,000 tonnes and $3.5 billion'.

Then the Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 6) on pepper growing:

'Pepper exports more than doubled last year despite Kampot pepper exports having dropped more than 27 per cent year-on-year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
Total pepper exports reached 3,693.25 tonnes last year – up 53.17 per cent from 2,411.20 tonnes over the same period in 2018, the ministry’s data showed.
Meanwhile, Kampot pepper exports fell from 69 to 50 tonnes over the same period, the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA) said.
KPPA president Nguon Lay said farmers harvested 125 tonnes of Kampot pepper last year but were only able to export less than half of that due to “the lack of new export markets”

Noteworthy, Kampot pepper also gets reported on by the BBC (Jan. 16).

Finally in other news, Monsanto related. Reuters (Jan. 17):

'Bayer could be close to settling more than 75,000 cancer claims related to its Roundup herbicide, with mediator Ken Feinberg on Friday saying he was “cautiously optimistic that a settlement will ultimately be reached.”
Feinberg said the settlement negotiations were complex and difficult. Asked about a timeline, he said it would be “premature to state that a settlement is near or will be reached.
”Feinberg declined to discuss terms of the possible settlement, but told Reuters the group of plaintiffs’ lawyers involved in the negotiations had been expanded, suggesting a potential wide-ranging settlement'.