Drenching

A short article to set us off. Previously highlighted here, it appears the EU are abating there strictness. Phnom Penh Post (May 31):

'Producers of white rice will have until September to meet the revised threshold level of 0.01 milligrams of Tricyclazole residue per kilo of rice, far below the current limit of 1 milligram per kilo, it said.

The previous deadline for white rice exports was June, while the December deadline for jasmine rice exports remains unchanged'.

It coincides with a recent article in Le Monde (May 29), which highlights how another chemical, atrazine, forbidden in the EU since 2004, still sees substantial production in the same EU with exports heading for countries with less scruples / less legislation. It cites the Swiss organisation Public Eye which in a recent report highlighted exports from Switzerland, France and Italy. On Switzerland: 

'Switzerland is exporting atrazine and paraquat to developing countries. The use of these herbicides, made by the Swiss-based Syngenta, has been banned in Switzerland due to their extreme toxicity'.

And though we're drifting off-topic, I would add the following article on banana growing in Laos. Often quoted, Reuters decided to make a write up. Excerptions of which are from VOA (May 11):

'Experts say the Chinese have brought jobs and higher wages to northern Laos, but have also drenched plantations with pesticides and other chemicals.

...

Under the "Belt and Road" plan, China has sought to persuade neighbors to open their markets to Chinese investors. For villagers like Kongkaew, that meant a trade-off.

"Chinese investment has given us a better quality of life. We eat better, we live better," Kongkaew said.

But neither he nor his neighbors will work on the plantations, or venture near them during spraying. They have stopped fishing in the nearby river, fearing it is polluted by chemical run-off from the nearby banana plantation.

...

Several Chinese plantation owners and managers expressed frustration at the government ban, which forbids them from growing bananas after their leases expire.

They said the use of chemicals was necessary, and disagreed that workers were falling ill because of them.

"If you want to farm, you have to use fertilizers and pesticides," said Wu Yaqiang, a site manager at a plantation owned by Jiangong Agriculture, one of the largest Chinese banana growers in Laos.

...

Hmong and Khmu workers douse the growing plants with pesticides and kill weeds with herbicides such as paraquat. Paraquat is banned by the European Union and other countries including Laos, and it has been phased out in China.

The bananas are also dunked in fungicides to preserve them for their journey to China'.

It just shows hoe the lack of a conscience is the underlying business rule with the large-scale agrochemical industry.

Stealth

With a slight upswing in the rice market, it comes as no surprise that the Phnom Penh Post (May 18) reports that big brother may well be interested in a bigger part of Cambodia's rice pie:

'China has agreed to increase its import quota for Cambodian rice to 300,000 tonnes by next year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday following his return from Beijing where he attended the Belt and Road initiative summit'.

However the Khmer Times (Jun. 2) reports on the downsides on neighbouring actions:

'Cambodian rice millers and exporters are strongly concerned that Thailand’s plan to release 4.32 million tonnes of state rice stocks by September, driven by a sharp surge in global rice demand, could depress prices of the vital grain on commodity markets. “When Thailand sells such a large part of its stockpile on the open market it will have a knock-on effect on prices and in turn also affect the price of Cambodian milled rice exports,” Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodia Rice Federation, told Khmer Times'.

The same source (Khmer Times, Jun. 5) also delves the depths of the marketing strategy of Cambodia's rice future:

'Government task forces will meet this week to finalise a single brand under which Cambodian rice will be exported.

...

Hean Vanhan, director-general of the general directorate of agriculture, said registration of a single rice brand was the duty of the commerce ministry. Agriculture officials said Cambodia had more than 10 varieties of fragrant rice, and should not single out one as a single brand.

“The CRF selected ‘Angkor Malis’ as the brand, but this is not right because there is already a rice seed called malis,” Mr Vanhan said.
“What the private sector wants to do is to steal foreign branding to make the rice similar to Thailand, since the Thai Hom Mali is already famous. “If we use ‘Angkor Malis,’ which is specific only to Cambodian premium rice ‘malis,’ it has a different taste to Cambodian fragrant rice such as phka romduol, phka chansensor and phka khnei.

“If customers buy Angkor Malis one day, it may have a different taste when they buy it in the future, even though it carries the same brand,” Mr Vanhan said.

He suggested that a non-specific ‘Angkor Rice,’ with the specific variety written underneath would help clear up the confusion and prevent people from thinking they were buying a specific rice variety when they might be buying a different premium rice'.

Thai-tening
Regionally it's the Thai who are mostly optimistic. From the Bangkok Post (May 30): 

'World rice prices are expected to rise by US$20 (682 baht) a tonne over the next three months, driven by a sharp surge in global rice demand, according to experts. Global rice supply is now quite tight, while Thailand's previously hefty state rice stocks have eased, releasing pressure on global rice prices, Jeremy Zwinger, chief executive of the Rice Trader, said at the "World Rice Trade Outlook" seminar of Thailand Rice Convention 2017, held in Bangkok yesterday. 

...

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporter Association, said lower-than-expected rice production in Vietnam accounts in part for the lower global supply, while Thailand's good-quality rice stocks are about to be depleted.

 

From Vietnam a similar sentiment, though more cautious. The VNexpress (May 12):

'China and several African countries have returned to Vietnam seeking fragrant and white rice, and the demand has helped stabilize export prices even though supply has risen at the end of a major harvest, traders said on Friday'.

The Vientiane Times (May 5) notes that the Lao dry season rice crop may well disappoint slightly.

'This dry season, the department set a target of 95,000 hectares but until now only about 90,000 hectares have been planted out.
Department officials said a large number of farmers were now growing other crops instead, which earned them more money and required less water. The lack of irrigation occurred because provinces did not have sufficient funds to pay for the repair of irrigation systems, according to the Department of Irrigation'.

Thailand is looking to getting rid of the last of it's inventory. The Bangkok Post (May 16):

'The government yesterday called the second auction for 1.82 million tonnes of state-held rice that is fit for human consumption.
...
The government is estimated to hold about 4.82 million tonnes of rice stocks, a sharp drop from the 18.7 million tonnes accumulated during 2011-14. 

... From Jan 1 to May 9, Thailand exported 4.1 million tonnes, up 9% from the same period last year, worth US$1.74 billion (60.1 billion baht), up 6% in value'.

An article from Vietnam.net (May 30) which looks at an interesting study:

'A study conducted by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development shows there are nine million rice farming households nationwide, but around 300,000 of them account for the bulk of Vietnam’s rice export volume.

Meanwhile, the nation has over 300,000 rice milling facilities, but a majority of them are small. But in Thailand, there are a mere 1,000 rice milling plants. Besides, Vietnam has around 100 rice exporters, but a mere 22 of them focus on China, one of Vietnam’s largest rice buyers.

Industry experts said these two hindrances had led to the global market share of Vietnamese rice shrinking. Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show the country’s rice shipments last year dropped 27% in volume and 23% in value against 2015'.

Meanwhile, a new weapon in the armory of Italy's rice industry hoping to target cheaper rice imports from Cambodia, Burma and potentially Vietnam. From Lexology.com (May 31):

'The Italian government has submitted to Brussels the draft decrees for the introduction of an obligation to indicate the origin of certain the raw materials.16 For rice, the place of cultivation, processing and packaging must be indicated, while for wheat, the place of wheat cultivation and the sowing of the seeds must be indicated. 

...

To try and counter the imports producers have been calling for better labelling of foodstuffs containing rice so as to indicate to consumers the true origin of the raw materials.

The producers hope that consumers will tend to purchase products with Italian rice rather than imported rice'.

It seems more as a message for domestic markets.

Measuring

Organics in Cambodia are poised to be government ruled. The Cambodia Daily (Jun. 1):

'The Agriculture Ministry will soon adopt a national standard for organic vegetable production to create product consistency and a single yardstick for farmers to work toward, according to officials.

A logo that will mark the products as government-approved organics has been designed, and a draft law by which the produce quality will be measured is nearly complete, said Kean Sophea, deputy director of the ministry’s department of horticulture'.

How will this work in practice? I doubt that this label would result in better trust by consumers than any other current logo.

Having access to the world market doesn't necessarily mean a positive. Hard work still needs to be done. The Vientiane Times (May 22):

'Although Laos is enjoying Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) exemption from over 50 nations around the world, the country is still unable to fully benefit from the special treatment.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently described a number of challenges Laos is facing in order to fully benefit from trade privileges.

One of the most important points is that Lao businesses don’t fully understand the true benefits and the various procedures of the scheme.

In the meantime, product quality sometimes does not meet the standard requirements as specified by countries at the final destination. 

In addition, Lao businesses produce agricultural goods in small volumes as they are often family concerns and have not done any market research or studied the GSP'.  

More policy talk. The Phnom Penh Post (May 11):

'Cambodia's agricultural sector must improve post-harvest processing to increase the value of its products, while increased knowledge sharing could help farmers better understand the different value chains and identify opportunities, agricultural experts participating in the Grow Asia Forum said yesterday.

Panellists at the event, hosted by Grow Asia and held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Phnom Penh, also said improving farmers’ access to better seeds and inputs, as well as training, would help them to be more productive'.

More policy talk. I think. Phnom Penh Post (Jun. 2):

'Implementation of a previously announced three-year $20 million programme to increase local vegetable and fragrant rice production will begin next month to help boost domestic supply and reduce imports, an agriculture official said yesterday.

The goal of the project is to increase local production of vegetables by 160 tonnes per day and production of 500,000 tonnes of paddy rice a year, Kean Sophea, deputy director of the Department of Horticulture and Subsidiary Crops at the Agricultural Ministry, said'.

And then an article from the Phnom Penh Post (May 19) highlighting how agricultural policy can develop without government fiddling:

'The Kingdom’s leading palm oil producer has projected revenues of $20 million this year as it targets another record-setting year for crude palm oil exports.

“We plan to export over 30,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil this year, with revenue of approximately $20 million,” Prachak Kongtanomtham, vice president of Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Oil Palm Co Ltd (MRIC), said yesterday.

MRIC, a joint venture subsidiary of local agro-industrial conglomerate Mong Reththy Group and Thailand’s TCC Group, exported a record 21,450 metric tonnes of crude palm oil in 2016, generating over $13.3 million in revenue, according to Prachak. 

...

About 17,000 hectares of MRIC’s palm oil plantations are harvestable. Two other companies operate commercial palm oil plantations in Cambodia, though only one has matured to harvest.

Malaysian-owned Virtus Green Plantations (Cambodia) operates a palm oil plantation on a portion of its 6,700-hectare economic land concession in Kampot province. 

...

The Kingdom’s other major palm oil plantation is located in Ratanakkiri province, where subsidiaries of Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai have planted oil palms on 18,000 hectares. The first harvest is expected by next year'.

Sweetener
The  Bangkok Post (May 24) reports of how Thailand seeks to meet free trade requirements while at the same time manipulating the domestic market:

'Thailand, the world's second-largest sugar exporter, is introducing regulations to govern its sugar trading system for the 2017-18 crop, which commences in November, to bring the system in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
...
Brazil says Thailand's subsidies for sugar producers had dragged down global prices and allowed Thailand to win a larger market share at the expense of Brazilian producers, conduct that is not in line with international trade agreements.
...
Traders and industry officials said freeing up domestic retail sugar prices could lead to possible sugar shortages, particularly when global sugar prices rise. Traders said sugar production costs in Thailand should be slightly lower than for net sugar importing countries. This could encourage profiteers to smuggle sugar from Thailand to be resold in the neighbouring CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar and Vietnam), where sugar prices are around 40% higher than domestic retail prices'.

Also hoping to dampen the local market the Bangkok Post (May 27) reports how stricter food rules will ensure that the domestic consumption will sky-rocket:

'A new bill imposing a maximum of 10% sugar or sweetener content in food products is expected to be passed and come into effect within this year, said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday'.

The article also quotes EU regulation of the same subject. Though I doubt whether or not the EU has legislation on the subject, it's  certainly  clear that the EU sugar industry is very much opposed to any levels. Kudos to the Thai on this subject, let's hope it's an effective policy.

Then what an opener market means. The Phnom Penh Post (May 23):

'Cambodia's biggest sugar mill has finished its two-month production run, producing half a million tonnes of refined white sugar, nearly five times what the company predicted at the beginning of the harvest season, a company representative said yesterday.

Kuy Yoeurn, an administrative manager for Rui Feng (Cambodia) International Co Ltd, said the second harvest season of its $360 million sugar plant in Preah Vihear province greatly exceeded the company’s expectations. He said the mill produced 500,000 tonnes of refined sugar from an undisclosed amount of raw sugarcane this season.

...

The Cambodian government granted Rui Feng Cambodia an 8,841-hectare economic land concession (ELC) in 2011. However, the Chinese-owned company and its four sister companies collectively hold five separate ELC licences covering 40,000 hectares.

Rui Feng has faced accusations of land-grabbing and using its partner firms to circumvent restrictions on the maximum legal size of land a company can hold as an ELC.

Nevertheless, Yoeurn said Rui Feng has requested that the Ministry of Agriculture provide the company with more land to expand its cultivation of sugarcane.

“We need to increase our sugarcane cultivation,” he said. “So far, we have already farmed all of our land and it is still not enough. The ministry should provide us with more land for cultivation.”

Grow-ing

There's not much to feed back on: end of the year, end of the harvest syndrome? Or simply other news taking the limelight.

What is Grow Asia?

'Grow Asia is a multi-stakeholder partnership platform that catalyzes action on inclusive and sustainable agricultural development in South East Asia.

...

Established by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, Grow Asia brings together companies, governments, NGOs and other stakeholders to help smallholder farmers improve their production and livelihood through access to information, knowledge, markets and finance'.

Presently also active in Cambodia.
Despite the lofty goals Grow has come under recent criticism  from GRAIN (Dec. 15):

'The world's largest agribusiness corporations are rolling out a public-private partnership programme to take control of food and farming in the Global South'.

The article then seeks to underline the danger of this programme with many examples and draws this conclusion:

'It is important to see this programme for what it is: a mechanism for corporate control. For farmers and civil society, the challenge is to recognise and reject these kinds of schemes that do nothing to tackle hunger, poverty or climate change. The solution lies with the communities and movements putting forward a vision of food sovereignty based in local markets, agro-biodiversity and agroecology'.

On a personal note, I'm now reading Robert Reich's Saving Capitalism and I see the parallels between what he writes and what GRAIN is reporting on. 
Less and less is the playing field of economics, companies and you and me fair, even or equal. Less government has meant more large corporations who are using all their powers to distort the playing field to their own convenience. Grow seems simply another ploy to extend influence by and gain markets with little opportunity for alternatives.

 
Sharing
As said little news. The Khmer Times (Dec. 12) reports:

'Rice producers and exporters to the European Union must use a new kind of certificate of origin beginning January 1.

 “Producers or exporters who have been exporting rice to the EU are required to use a new type of Certificate of Origin for exports as the new online request has not been inserted into the ministry’s system,” a notice from the Commerce Ministry said'.

Sharing the blame. Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 20):

'Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon yesterday defended his ministry amid complaints by farmers of low yields during dry season, rising costs of production and a lack of markets to sell their produce, saying that other ministries and sectors also shared responsibility'.

Fit
Cambodia's neighbours also have little to note. 
Despite all the hoopla in recent times about rice buy schemes, press attention has moved elsewhere with little tidbits to mention.

Bangkok Post (Dec. 14):

'The government is considering setting up a central market for milled rice as another distribution channel for rice traders and farmers'. 

And though increased opportunities mean a better performing market, it by no means addresses prices dropping. 

The Nation (Dec. 30):

'THAILAND is expected to export between 9.5 million and 10 million tonnes of rice next year, the same or slightly more than this year’s total of about 9.5 million tonnes, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association'.

The Bangkok Post (Dec. 20):

'The government is committed to disposing all 8 million tonnes of state rice stocks next year. According to Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, most of the existing 8 million tonnes of rice stocks are white rice, and 5 million tonnes of the total is poor-quality grain unfit for human consumption'.

As Thailand struggles to sell it's crop, so too does it's major competitor, Vietnam. 
New strategies? Vietnamnet (15 Dec):

'The country should halve its rice exports from the normal 7-8 million tonnes until 2020 because of difficulties exporters face and falling production due to climate change, according to the Viet Nam Food Association'. 

Though in all honesty, the association seeks ways to halve the volume, but increase the returns. Not many new aspects though increasing salination of the Mekong delta is mentioned as a serious threat to maintaining current export volumes.

Impacting

Other agricultural news from the region. The Vientiane Times (Dec. 13) had an article entitled 

'What should be done to solve the impact of banana plantations on people's health and the environment?'

It's disappeared from the government run press site, but google has a couple of dead links; conclusion do nothing?

It did run a day later after this article (Vientiane Times, Dec. 12) which supposedly  refers to a ban on banana growing:

'Chinese farms in Laos' provinces have been suspended due to their ongoing use of hazardous chemicals which are having negative impacts on people's health and the environment.
The Prime Minister's Office's ordered the farms which are preparing to cultivate banana trees to cease their efforts while thousands of hectares of banana plantations which have already planted the trees will not be allowed to plant any more suckers after harvesting their crops'.

Whether or not this will mean a real end to Chinese managed banana plantations remains to be seen. For instance a ban on the export of logs has been in place for nearly 6 months, though it's hardly effective with lower authorities continuing their own export operations nonetheless (RFA, Dec. 7). 

Rubber and Lao. The Vientiane Times (Dec. 10) notes:

'There haven't been widespread reports of farmers cutting down their rubber trees in Luang Namtha province, relevant officials have said, whereas two years ago the phenomenon did arise'.

Better times?
Finally the Bangkok Post (Dec. 8) with in depth coverage of their important sugar section:

'Unfavourable weather has delayed Thailand's sugar crushing season, threatening a reduction in sugar output for the 2016/17 crop.

The drop will prevent Thailand, the world's second largest sugar exporter, from capitalising on rising global sugar prices at a time it is being challenged by Brazil over subsidies to the Thai sugar industry, said industry officials.
...

In another development, Thailand is to overhaul its sugar production and distribution systems for the first time in more than three decades in order to avoid being challenged by Brazil, the world's biggest sugar producer, at the World Trade Organization.
...

Thailand will have to revoke its current 70:30 profit-sharing system, in place since 1984, which will require cancelling its quota system and floating domestic sugar prices. Brazil is challenging Thailand  over subsidies for sugar producers that it says have dragged down global prices and allow Thailand to win a larger market share at the expense of Brazilian producers, conduct that is not in line with international with international trade agreements. The 70:30 profit sharing system between sugar millers and cane growers provides monetary support from the Cane and Sugar Fund to sugar cane producers. The fund raises the money itself, largely from yearly sugar sales. When the fund does not have enough money, it seeks loans from the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives'.

 So better news for consumers, less so for farmers ...

Fruition

Trade

Despite the poor progress of reaching Hun Sen's goal, it is noted that Chinese banks might just be willing to plough is some cash ($70 million?). PPP (27-08): 

'Son Kunthor, president of the Cambodian state-owned Rural Development Bank, told the Post that his Chinese counterpart proposed the establishment of $70 million in loans for rice milling, which would enable the production of between 270,000-450,000 tonnes of unmilled rice'. 

The bad news: 

'“This is their plan. We don’t know how much about it or if it will come to fruition, because first there are some conditions the government needs to ensure,” he [Son Kunthor] said'.

Hope to fulfil the dream is now heaped on Indonesia. An MoU was signed between Cambodia and Indonesia which would see 100,000 tonnes of rice head to Indonesia (PPP, 29-08). But ..., there's no timeframe, nor an exact amount. A respondent to the article questions the price to be received (higher than that of Vietnamese sourced rice?) as well as the shipping possibilities:

'how the rice will go to the port of loading ? as no vessel with rice was ever loaded in Sikhanoukville by any cambodian exporter . are these 2 gentlemen [Cambodia’s Minister of Commerce and Indonesia’s Trade Minister] on the photo asking themselves these questions'. 

Probably not. 

On the other end the Jakarta Post reports the signing on a non-binding agreement. An agreement meant as encouragement for Indonesian businesses to set up shop in Cambodia. It mentions the company Galuh Prabu Trijaya with extensive interests in fertilizer supplies. 

However background info on the company is scarce. Alibaba suggests 

'We are sole distributor of rice origin from Cambodian competitive price with Jasmine type and else We have hulled rice the best quality'. 

Quite.

Then the Jakarta Post (31-08) actually has an achievement to present:  

'Khy Thay Corporation, a Cambodian rice miller, said it was ready to ship up to 20,000 tons of rice to Indonesia starting this year and to buy Indonesian agriculture machinery valued at $380 million'.

Khy Thay? 

'Khy Thay is a family company established in 1930, which buys rice from farmers and sells it, husked or unhusked, to Thailand and Vietnam. The company oversees a farmers’ association with 1.2 million members, each of whom owns about a hectare of land'.

Hmmm, 1.2 million? Now I remember this figure. 

'Prabu Galuh Trijaya is the Indonesian partner of the Khay Thay Corporation'. 

But thinking practically: 

'Vietnam might try to squeeze out Cambodia, following its deal with Indonesia, by cutting short its sack supply,” Ika [ Prabu Galuh’s director] said, “This is a big opportunity for any Indonesian company to supply the sacks or even build sack plants here.”'

Finally back to China: 

'Cambodia expects to export around 300,000 tonnes of milled rice to China per year, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said during the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Siem Reap'. 

No idea as to when the expectations will be fulfilled, as reported by the PPP (30-08). 

Reality check.As an annually occurring event? The Phnom Penh Post (21-08) report Drought hits Cambodia. And then adds rice exports:

'The report [Econony and Finance Ministry’s review on the promotion of paddy production and rice exports during 2010-2011] listed expectations for 2012 to reach only 180,000 tonnes, equal to 18 per cent of the Kingdom’s 2015 export target of one million tonnes'. 

Reasons? Only a vague reference to drought-like conditions in the west of the country ...

Price surge?

ODI have forecast near-record level global rice production brought about by better monsoons over the Indian sub-continent. this may well imply lower prices, if ....

A sidenote on the price crisis. The Independent (01-09) notes that Barclays Bank made 500 million pounds on the futures market in the past years. Another company involved, Glencore, was quoted 

'... describing the global food crisis and price rises as a "good" business opportunity'. 

An official bank response: 

'The bank defended its actions, pointing out that trading in so-called futures contracts – an agreement to buy or sell a certain quantity of a product, at a given price on an agreed date – helped parties such as farmers and bakers to hedge against the risk of rising or falling prices. "Our clients include investment companies, food producers and consumers who, among other things, seek our help to manage risks"'. 

And whoops: 

'Barclays Capital analysts admitted in a note to clients in February that speculation did push up prices. Barclays said: "The second key driver is that commodity investors have begun allocating to commodities again after beginning 2012 heavily underexposed to the sector."'. 

A few days later (sept 5) the Independent quotes OXFAM as believing that climate change could well lead to more cereal price spikes in the future. Surprisingly all agencies quoted are calling for more investment in production. And here I was believing that strategic reserves would be the answer ... Now where did I read that rice prices were stable  for most of the year because of reserves/stockpiling in Thailand, India and China ...

Well, not in the following:

'The Asian Development Bank yesterday pointed out that Asean nations could help avoid world rice-price shocks by reducing export restrictions, placing less emphasis on self-sufficiency, retooling Thailand's rice-pledging programme and expanding coordinated rice policies with India and Pakistan.

Thailand is projected to return as the world's top rice exporter, but its pledging scheme, which guarantees farmers a higher-than-market price for their crops, provides disincentives to its exporters, resulting in the steady decline of rice-export revenues since late last year. As of May 28, exports were down by 43.1 per cent or 2.86 million tonnes, according to the ADB's working paper'. 

As reported in the Nation (31-08). 

Anyway, Cambodia has nothing to fear, come price surge and all; at least that was noted in the PPP (11-09): 

'Nina Brandstrup, FAO representative in Cambodia, said the high level should not be considered too dramatic'. 

And 

'“On balance, we are pleased that the food index remains stable, and expect it to turn down in the near future,” Peter Brimble, ADB deputy country director for Cambodia and senior country economist, said'. 

Oh well, so much for the concern about rising prices.

Follow the lead
Rice pledging. The Thai government seems to be convinced that it has signed deals worth 7.3 million tonnes (the Nation, 13-09). Only 4 million tonnes to get rid of, apparently. No word on the price agreed, so it is only guessing how much the scheme is actually costing the Thai taxpayer. 
The same source also reports the need to refinance the scheme. The Bangkok Post (13-09) simulataneously notes that the rice has been sold, but exporters believe that only 0,2 million tonnes have actually been sold. Suggestions are that if there were done deals these were at below market prices.

Meanwhile. Opposition in Thailand blames the government for falling agricultural prices (Nation, 23-08). Prices of rubber, palm oil fruit and coconuts have dropped considerably without the government able to do anything about it. 
That's how the economy usually works. 
The opposition though refrain from comment on the rice pledging; obviously farmers are getting better returns. The losses will befall to the government. But that is entirely a different matter.

Back on the ranch. The Bangkok Post (17-08) has an interesting article on a recent study of rural debt. Household debt levels are increasing 6% per annum, partly being driven by the government rice pledging scheme which is leading farmers to take out more credit to pay for farm inputs. As the lender is often informal, post-harvest there is often is a mis-match between achieved pluses minus the outstanding plus interest.

'The survey showed the government's agriculture measures did nothing to improve farmers' lives'.

So much for the heralded government input.

Wrapping up session

The ADB also contends that Laos will become a rice exporting nation, report by the Vientiane Times (7-09): 

'The Asean and Global Rice Situation and Outlook, which was released on the ADB's website recently, shows that Laos will be able to shift its status from rice importer to a minor rice exporter over the next 10 years, if it can maintain the growth rate of rice production above the growth rate of consumption'.

Hybrid rice; SL Agritech wants to expand from the Philippines big time. Their partner in Thailand would be Capital Rice to which SL Agritech will bequeath hybrid technology apparently without anything in return (source). 
Capital Rice make no mention of the link, but I do see that Capital are wanting in on the Cambodian market.

Nuts. Cashews. PPP (24-08) reports on cashew selling, by pointing out that Vietnam demands more nuts. Somehow demand is believed to be up, but prices are down. Not economics? Or poor reporting?