Cambodia's rice exports expected to hit 800,000 tonnes in 2020

A vendor piles sacks of rice for sale in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 13, 2020. - AP

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia's milled rice exports to the international market are expected to reach 800,000 tonnes in 2020, an estimated rise of 29 per cent from 620,106 tonnes last year, a senior agriculture official said on Wednesday (June 17).

Ngin Chhay, director-general of agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the kingdom had seen a remarkable increase in rice exports in the first five months of this year due to high demand from the international market as a result of the Coivid-19 pandemic.

He said the Southeast Asian nation exported a total of 356,097 tonnes of milled rice to 54 countries and regions during the January-May period this year, up 42 per cent over the same period last year.

China and Europe were the biggest buyers of Cambodia's milled rice during the first five months of this year, the official said, adding that the country shipped 136,825 tonnes of milled rice to China, up 25 per cent, and 122,010 tonnes to Europe, up 51 per cent.

"Based on the figures in the first five months of this year, we expect that Cambodia's milled rice exports to the international market will hit at least 800,000 tonnes in 2020," Chhay said in a press conference in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia produced about 10 million tonnes of paddy rice last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. With this amount, the kingdom saw paddy rice surplus of about 5.6 million tonnes in equivalent to 3.5 million tonnes of milled rice. - Xinhua