Cambodia's rice export up 41 per cent in first half of 2020

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia exported 397,660 tonnes of milled rice in the first half of 2020, up 41 per cent over the same period last year, according to an official report released on Tuesday (July 1).

China remained the largest buyer of Cambodian rice, said the report from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export.

Cambodia shipped 147,949 tonnes of milled rice to China during the January-June period this year, up 25 per cent over the same period last year, it said, adding that the Chinese market absorbed 37 per cent of Cambodia's total rice export.

The report also showed that the kingdom exported 135,576 tonnes to the European market during the period, up 45 per cent, and 52,987 tonnes to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) market, up 47 per cent.

Ngin Chhay, director general of agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said recently that the Covid-19 pandemic had driven high demand for Cambodian rice.

He predicted that the country's rice export to the international market is expected to reach at least 800,000 tonnes in 2020, an estimated rise of 29 per cent from 620,106 tonnes last year.

The Southeast Asian country 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