Confidence in rice sector amid floods
Confidence in rice sector amid floods
Insiders from the Kingdom’s rice industry are not worried about this season’s flooding despite the harm rising waters have done to crops in some areas of the country.
Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) vice-president Hun Lak said it is collecting data on the impact the floods have had on the industry.
He said despite the damage water has done in some places, other areas are already parched.
“We are still following up and keeping track of the data. Reports so far show the impact of flooding at paddy fields will not hit our export quotas,” he said.
Reports from the National Committee for Disaster Management last week said there were 3,400 hectares of paddy fields that were totally destroyed by floods, while another 28,542 hectares faced flooding issues.
Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice Co Ltd, said everything was going well with harvests at the firm, with more than 40 per cent of its paddy stock full.
However, he said if flooding got worse, there could be reasons for concern.
“This is the season for harvesting fragrant rice. Currently, floods are not impacting our paddy fields, but if they continue, it will be a concern.”
A Ministry of Agriculture report showed rice exports in the first six months of this year totalled 271,537 tonnes – a 5.9 per cent decrease from the 288,562 tonnes exported in the same period last year.
Cambodia signed a 200,000-tonne export quota with China last year. That number will be bumped up to 300,000 tonnes this year.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s director-general of the general directorate of agriculture, Hean Vanhan, said the damage is still minimal and would not bring down the industry.
He said that millers should begin preparing finances in order to buy paddy from rice farmers.
