Europe looks to cash in on Cambodian rice

THE Cambodian Small and Medium Industries Association will begin exporting 2,656 tonnes of rice worth nearly US$1 million to four European nations later this month.

Fetching $355 per tonne from buyers in Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden, the rice shipments would last from July until mid-August, and would be worth a total of $942,880 on the European market, association secretary general Outh Renne said yesterday.

“We hope companies will be able to export more rice to European markets in the coming years,” he said.

Some 1,440 tonnes of the 25 percent broken rice will be shipped to Poland, 1,000 tonnes to Lithuanian buyers, 168 tonnes to Estonia, and the remaining 48 tonnes will travel to Sweden, according to a report.

Last month, $583,000 worth of rice was shipped from Cambodia to Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Estonia.

The association also exported some 5,000 tonnes to European markets from January to July this year, and aims to ship a total of 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes to European countries including France, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, Estonia and Latvia during the rest of 2010.

It said it received support from the Ministry of Commerce and the Export Market Access Fund, a World Bank-supported organisation with the mission of addressing financial and technical constraints faced by Cambodian exporters.

(source from Phnompenh post, Monday, 12 July 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal)