Cambodia unlikely to achieve 1-million-ton rice export by 2015: commerce minister

 

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol said Friday that the country is unlikely to achieve its self-imposed target of exporting one million tons of milled rice by 2015 due to lack of milling capacity and funding.

The country set the target in 2010.

"Last year, we had exported only 387,000 tons of milled rice, so it is difficult for us to achieve the target," he told reporters after the annual conference of the Cambodia Rice Federation. "However, we are trying to find new foreign markets for our rice."

The minister said he will visit Russia next month. During the visit, he will try to open markets in Russia for Cambodian milled rice.

According to Sun Chanthol, China had signed to buy 100,000 tons of Cambodian milled rice from August last year to April this year. So far, Cambodia has exported nearly 70,000 tons to China.  

Cambodia produced over 9 million tons of paddy rice a year. With the amount, it has over 3 million tons of milled rice left over for exports per year.  

Five main buyers of Cambodian rice are France, Poland, Malaysia, China, and the Netherlands.  Enditem