It's the start of the year, when Cambodia sees it's big bosses discuss rice. No difference there, this year.
Probably the most significant snippet from the meet is the announcement of a national rice brand. The Khmer Times (Jan. 22):
'The annual rice forum starts in Phnom Penh today, bringing together farmers, businesses and researchers for a two-day event that seeks to find solutions to some of the sector’s most pressing questions....Malys Angkor, the first brand name of Cambodian premium rice, will be formally launched during the event'.
Even the Bangkok Post (Jan. 24) chimes in:
'Rice authorities unveiled the “Malys Angkor” rice brand, a new certification mark that encompasses a range of Cambodian fragrant rice varieties'.
The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 22) delves deeper into the issues of the single brand and more urgent problems as unveiled at the meeting:
'The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) today announced a new “Malys Angkor” brand to be used as the official moniker for four species of Cambodian fragrant rice.The first day of the two-day Cambodia Rice Forum also featured the release of a remarkably frank report on the industry group’s internal issues, which acknowledges that the CRF’s numerous flaws are currently preventing it from acting as a proper representative of the country’s rice sector.Sok Puthyvuth, president of the CRF and son-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, lauded the branding effort at the launch of the forum at Phnom Penh’s Sofitel Hotel today....The Malys Angkor branding push is part of the CRF’s long-term goal to promote the country’s rice sector, but those efforts are being hampered by significant internal problems, according to the group’s “Strategic Plan 2017-2021”.“Current assessments suggest that there are many challenges facing the CRF,” the report says, noting that board members appear to have “commitment discipline issues” and that many board members only attend meetings “when the meeting is about their interests”.Other complaints include farmers being pushed aside in favor of millers and traders, as well as more wealthy or connected members having greater access to the CRF’s services and attention than regular members.Money also appears to be a problem, as “lack of sufficient financing” and few technical experts results in the CRF lacking a way of “sustainably handling requests from of [sic] members of the rice sector.”In addition, board decisions “often remain unimplemented”, and a new scheme to increase local-level monitoring of the rice sector by placing CRF representatives in various zones around the country may run into trouble because “the CRF appears to not possess all the requirements” to implement the program'.
So, despite the hoopla concerning the single brand it seems the rice sector is more based on lining each participants pocket(s) as she/he wishes. Nothing new to the current Khmer climate, where it seems that there's only one party in town. Literally.
As if the single brand isn't sufficient the Khmer Times (Jan. 23) notes that there's also a focus on having a GI within the brand:
'Rice authorities in the kingdom are exploring the possibility of applying for Geographical Indication (GI) status for rice grown in areas around the Tonle Sap Lake.Speaking during the Rice Forum in Phnom Penh, Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said his association will present a proposal to the Ministry of Commerce to consider awarding GI status to rice grown in Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang, the provinces that surround the Tonle Sap.Mr Puthyvuth said that creating a brand name for rice grown in areas around the Tonle Sap will make for a sound marketing strategy, helping increase demand for the product in European markets'.
Is this not complicating things?
Ups
Then there's the stocktaking of 2017. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 2) notes the numbers are up:
'Cambodian rice exports in 2017 increased 17 percent by volume compared to the year before, with exporters pushing to fill orders under China’s expanded import quota while shipments to European markets remained steady, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.
A total of 635,600 tonnes of rice was exported to international markets in 2017, up from 542,144 tonnes the previous year, according to a Facebook post by Hean Vanhan, director general of the general directorate of agriculture at the ministry.
China, which agreed to accept 200,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia in 2017 – doubling the previous limit – and will expand the quota to 300,000 tonnes this year, was the top destination for rice shipments.
Over five years, total rice exports have grown 67.78 percent from 378,800 tonnes in 2013, the figures show'.
But are the returns in money terms also as positive? And what is the actual price being paid for becoming more and more dependent on the Chinese market?
'Rice exports hit an all-time record in 2017, increasing by 14.77% this year to at least 11.25 million tonnes as of Dec 27, the Ministry of Commerce said. The price per tonne has risen above US1,000 for popular Jasmin fragrant rice, or hom mali'.
The government has provided $30 million in loans to rice millers since September to facilitate the purchase of paddy rice, with the head of a state-run bank saying more money was available if necessary.
The loans were issued to 38 rice millers by the state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) following September’s rice harvest, and would need to be paid back by April this year, according to RDB’s CEO Kao Thach'.
A lesser bit of national rice news, but more encouraging. The Khmer Times (Dec. 28) reports on how the Ibis Rice project has been successfully expanded to Stung Treng province.
Seething
Major news from the massive palmoil sector in the region, touching on one potential for Cambodia's ag sector.
Hoping to cash in on the ill-ventured biofuel programmes (I mean you need more fuel to grow the crops than you receive after harvest) the boom may well be leading to a bust.
Despite warnings, palmoil plantations have done little to ensure a decent level of sustainability. And no surprise then, that the EU will be discontinuing the palmoil component within the regions biofuel programme. Euractiv (Jan. 17):
'The European Parliament decided today (17 January) to phase-out palm oil by 2021 and cap crop-based biofuels at the member states’ 2017 consumption levels and no more than 7% of all transport fuels until 2030....“The Parliament has sent a message that not all biofuels are created equal by focusing on getting rid of those that drive deforestation like palm oil. But its amendments still risk making it harder for EU member states to realistically boost renewables in transport,” Secretary-General of ePURE Emmanuel Desplechin said'.
The decision has especially Malaysia and Indonesia up in arms, both crying foul play. Mongabay (Jan. 19):
'Officials in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest producers of palm oil, have lambasted the European Parliament’s decision to phase out the commodity from motor fuels over the next three years due to environmental concerns.
Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said Thursday that the vote to reduce to zero “the contribution from biofuels and bioliquids produced from palm oil” by 2021 was misguided and unfair, given that Jakarta had taken steps to address the environmental impact of the palm oil industry.
The trade minister’s remarks came a day after the European Parliament voted on targets to cap crop-based biofuels, which follows the parliament’s overwhelming decision last year to ban the use of vegetable oils in biofuels. The amendments will now go to the European Commission and member states before they become law.
The move will have serious ramifications for Indonesia and Malaysia, who together produce nearly 90 percent of the world’s palm oil.
...
While the governments seethe, conservation and indigenous rights activists have welcomed the phase-out vote, citing the massive toll the palm oil industry has taken on tropical rainforests and the local communities dependent on them.
Eep Saefulloh, a researcher with Sawit Watch, an NGO that monitors the palm oil industry in Indonesia, criticized the industry talking points that the deforestation caused was legally sanctioned.
“If we’re talking about large palm oil plantations, of course they cause deforestation,” he said. “Unless we’re talking about small farmers only need a hectare or two. But if we’re talking about large plantations that can extend beyond villages and districts, what do we call that if not deforestation?”
This news takes some time to seep through to Cambodia. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 24):
'New proposed rules from the European Union restricting the import of palm oil would likely affect Cambodia’s nascent palm oil sector, but the country’s main exporter is hoping that demand from India and China will cushion the blow.
Cambodia’s palm oil exports rose by a whopping 143 percent last year, according to Ker Monthivuth, a sanitation expert at the Ministry of Agriculture. The country exported more than 44,000 tonnes of crude palm oil in 2017, up from nearly 19,000 tonnes the year before, he said.
...
“We will look to what happen in India and China, if they increase [consumption] volume,” he [Prachak Kongtanomtham, vice president of sales and marketing at the Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Oil Palm Co Ltd] said. “We should find how can reduce our production cost, especially logistic cost and utility,” he added, noting that costs were “very high” in Cambodia'.
Flied
From the kingdom's fruit front, it's mostly mango making the moves. The Phnom Penh Post (Jan. 22) looks at the export of the fresh produce:
'Cambodia’s mango shipments have been routinely blocked before making it to the international market, with the Ministry of Agriculture claiming the mangoes are not of a high enough quality to meet the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements necessary to ship outside of the Kingdom.
According to Hean Vanhan, director general at the General Directorate of Agriculture, the main obstacle for Cambodian mangoes making it to the international market has been the prevalence of fruit flies, which infest prospective shipments of the produce.
“It is not a matter of the quality of our mango – the main obstacle to the market is the fruit fly, which blocks our mango exports and makes it difficult to achieve SPS certification,” he said, adding that the SPS certificate could only be granted to shipments of mangoes devoid of “injurious pests”.
...
In Chayvan, president of Kampong Speu Mangoes Association, said that while the fruit fly has been a problem for mango farmers in the past, most have established methods that ensure there are few to no flies in their mango shipments.
The real reason Cambodia’s mangoes are unable to reach the international market, he said, is because they are often blocked for perceived hygiene-related issues, and he urged the Ministry of Agriculture to hasten its administration of SPS certificates to encourage neighbouring countries to buy Cambodian produce.
“The fruit fly is not our main concern when it comes to being blocked from the international market,” he said, adding that most mango shipments that had been prepared to leave Cambodia had met the SPS requirements. “Our main issue is that the SPS certification is too hard to get from the ministry, and so we have no access to ship to surrounding countries.”
But on the upswing, the same source (Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 4) notes positives for the export of dried mangoes:
'Phillipines-based dried fruit exporter Profood International has begun construction of a new factory in Cambodia that, when completed, should see 4,000 tonnes of mangoes dried annually, according to Philippine news outlet Sun Star.
Justin Uy, Profood founder and president, told Sun Star the 11-hectare plant was expected to begin operations in 2019, and that all mangoes dried at the facility would be slated for shipment to the Chinese market to satiate the nation’s annual 30,000 tonne demand. The company’s entry into Cambodia is intended to strengthen its foothold in the Southeast Asian market. Profood products are sold in 52 countries'.
And now something totally unrelated, but I think it's relevant to this blog. It has very little common with all the other subjects explored this time round, but I still feel I need to explain. Anyway the Vientiane Times (Jan. 24) reports:
'Chemical and pesticide experts from Laos and other Asean member countries are meeting in Vientiane this week to discuss the harmonisation of maximum pesticide residue limits in the interests of food safety.Boom to bust
...
So far Laos has adopted 768 out of 808 Asean maximum residue limits but lags behind many Asean member states in this regard'.
Contrasting news.
From Cambodia (Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 18) on the increasing expansion of rubber cultivation, though with a side note on smuggling to Vietnam. Beats me , why Cambodian producers would need to pay an export tax, totally uneconomic.
'The total amount of rubber exported by Cambodia surged 30 percent last year, but widespread rubber smuggling on the Vietnamese border crippled potential profits from the booming industry.
Cambodia generated about $300 million in revenue by exporting nearly 189,000 tons of rubber last year, according to Pol Sopha, general director of the rubber department at the Ministry of Agriculture. The revenue boost was also helped by a 24 percent increase in the average price per ton, which was up to $1,586 last year, compared to $1,283 in 2016.
But while small-scale rubber farmers were able to sell their crops for a profit, the industry as a whole was crippled by massive smuggling operations that shipped much of the country’s rubber into Vietnam tax-free, according to Sopha'.
But over in Thailand, there's more focus on the low prices. The Bangkok Post (Jan. 6):
'Rubber prices are expected to rise to 60 baht a kilogramme in the first quarter after Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia pledged to withhold exports of 350,000 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) from this month until March.
...
Thai natural rubber prices have been falling for several years, largely due to oversupply from major rubber-producing countries. The weak global economy subsequently cut demand in the auto industry, damaging rubber producers as a result.
The drop was also attributed to the growth of rubber plantations in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in the past 10 years. The CLMV countries currently supply 5.3% of the commodity to the global rubber market'.
Seeing the pie has not increased, the new entrants are claiming a share, but Thailand seems reluctant. A solution put forward was to allow large scale investment (read take-over) in the Thai rubber sector by China. But the Bangkok Post (Jan. 7) reports on the distrust issue:
'China's plan to invest in rubber plantations in Thailand must be carefully considered, says Grisada Boonrach, minister to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, but such projects must not impact local farmers. His comment was made in response to a report that China Hainan Rubber Industry Group is set to invest more in rubber plantations in the country, as it has done recently in the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam). Under these schemes, Chinese nationals oversee rubber production on land leased by the company.
...
Mr Grisada said that as the issue is quite sensitive a thorough study must be undertaken to ascertain the impact on domestic producers. His major worry being that there might be a repeat of the price dumping by Chinese middlemen in fruit markets in the eastern provinces'.
Then it's reported (Bangkok Post, January 24), that producers will still try to keep the prices reasonable:
'Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are hopeful of seeing the end of sagging natural rubber prices after agreeing on export cutbacks, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said.
The minister expressed Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are hopeful of seeing the end of sagging natural rubber prices after agreeing on export cutbacks, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said. The minister expressed confidence about the turnaround of rubber prices following the implementation of the three countries in the International Tripartite Rubber Council to curb exports for three months starting from Jan 10'.
Sugar
The great sell-off in practice.
'During a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked China to increase imports of Cambodian sugarcane.
...
The kingdom imports between 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of sugarcane every year, according to a representative of Phnom Penh Sugar.
However, only 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes are absorbed by the local market, with the remaining sugarcane being re-exported.
During the meeting yesterday, Mr Li agreed to increase their quota for imports of Cambodian milled rice, from 200,000 tonnes to 300, 000.
During the opening of the LMC summit on Wednesday, Mr Hun Sen also encouraged China to purchase more Cambodian cassava.
Umm, the sugar isn't even Khmer.
Bangkok Post (Jan. 17) describes the measures taken to meet WTO rulings:
'The government has invoked Section 44 to float the local price of sugar, says Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana. The local price had been subsidised by the Thai government. But the government wants the local price to be on a par with the global rate, as its support was in violation of a World Trade Organization (WTO) rule, with other sugar producers such as Brazil crying foul.
The plan to float the sugar price had been postponed since Dec 1'.
The idea is not to raise local prices, but to hope that world prices will drop to Thai domestic levels. Thus face saved.
Inclination
A few snippets concerning growing cassava. The Khmer Times (Jan. 11):
'Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon met on Monday with visiting US professors W. Ronnie Coffman and Max J. Pfeffer from Cornell University to discuss cooperation in a new project whose purpose is to yield disease-resilient, high yielding cassava.Is genomic selection just a short cut for natural selection?
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CARDI director Ouk Makara, who also joined the meeting, told Khmer Times that the team of US professors use biotechnology [genomic selection] to cultivate their cassava variety.
“The next generation cassava yields 10 percent more than our cassava,” he said, adding that, on average, Cambodian cassava yields 24 to 25 tonnes per hectare.
Cassava plantations in the kingdom have increased from 30,000 hectares in 2005 to 684,070 in 2016, with total production amounting to 14.8 million tonnes last year, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The provinces in which the crop is grown are Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pailin, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Tboung Khmom and Oddar Meanchey.
Cambodia exported 2.3 million tonnes of cassava chips during the first nine months of 2017. Cassava chip exports in 2016 amounted to 2.9 million tonnes, which mostly went to China, Thailand and Vietnam'.
The Vientiane Times (Jan. 15) finally shows us an example of how business should not take place:
'Many of the nation’s cassava farmers remain desperate to recover money that the Lao-Indochina Group Public Company has owed them since failing to pay for their produce in 2012.
The company’s bankruptcy resulted in the firm’s creditors, mostly cassava farmers, incurring further debts to banks, notably Nayoby Bank, leading the situation to its current deadlock.
...
The company ran up debts of 17.5 billion kip to cassava growers five years ago when it got into financial difficulties.
Only 4 billion kip of the total has been repaid to date.
In Vientiane’s Pakngum district alone, farmers sold 21 million tonnes of cassava worth almost 963 million kip to the company for processing at its tapioca factory in the district.
...
Cassava cultivation in Pakngum district is now fairly subdued.
Many farmers are disinclined to grow the crop because they are still indebted to banks as a result of their predicament.
This year, some farmers planted cassava, but in smaller quantities than in previous years with dried cassava then sold to Vietnamese traders.
Farmers want to know when they will get paid for all the cassava they grew and gave to the factory several years ago.
Many still owe money to district banks after borrowing to clear their land and plant cassava. Most of the farmers in question are now growing other crops, while some are pursuing other livelihoods'.
