Cambodia rice export status have declined for four consecutive months with early exports of 27 thousand tons, down 5.8%

According to a report on Cambodian rice exports by the secretariat for rice export applications, Cambodia's rice exports have dropped for four consecutive months since March till June 2016 with an early exports of 27 thousand tons, down 5.8% compared to that in 2015.

The report stated that in March 2016, Cambodia's rice exports fell by 14.5 percent meaning more than 7.5 million tons of rice has fallen in 2015 to only 6.6 tons in 2016; later in April, the exports faced another drop by 30.8 percent (5.1 to 3.9 tons).  In May, the exports also experienced a slump by 28.5 percent (from 4.1 million down to 3.2 million tons), followed by the other continuous downturn of 20.6 percent in June (from more than 4 thousand to just over 3.3 tons).

For the 1st half of 2016, the country's rice exports fell by 5.8 percent, down from 28.3 million tons in 2015 to 26.8 tons in 2016.

Rice experts told Fresh News that the decline was due to the fact that local millers lack of capital for rice stocks.

CEO of Amru Rice, Mr. Song Saran, once revealed that the decline of the country's rice exports will drag on until October when millers can afford much rice stock for export.

On 27 June 2016, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Federation of Cambodian Rice has conducted meeting for 2 hours to find solution in relation to the lack of capital for buying rice stocks for export.

The Ministry of Economy has vowed to address a special package of 20 to 30 million dollars in response to the request of the Federation of Rice to meet the immediate needs in the coming harvest season by urging Rice Federation to detail a planning form to be discussed in a meeting with Rural Development Bank.

It is noticed that previous rice export in 2015 amounted for 54 thousand tons, and Cambodia's main markets are Europe, China, and other significant regions in different parts of the world.