Illustrative photo. (Source: AFP/VNA)Phnom Penh (VNA) - Cambodia shipped11,200 tonnes of organic milled rice abroad in 2020, a 1.2-percent increaseover 2019, according to the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF).
While the milled-rice export sector by and large chalks up 2020’s lacklustregrowth performance to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the CRF worked to ramp upsales of Cambodian milled rice abroad.
The CRF said more than 90 percent of the exports were shipped to the Europeanmarket, while “a small amount” went to the US.
With Cambodia’s total 2020 milled-rice exports weighing in at 690,829 tonnes,organic rice accounted for just 1.6 percent.
Song Saran, president of the CRF and CEO of miller and exporter Amru RiceCambodia Co Ltd, said total milled-rice exports surged 11.4 percent from 2019,far outshining the growth seen in the organic variant.
Saran attributed the growth in Cambodian organic milled rice exports to tariffslevied by the EU, citing the market’s dependence on the bloc.
Cambodia’s rice sector officially lost its import duty exemption granted by theEU in January 2019 after the bloc’s decision to impose tariffs on imports from Cambodiaand Myanmar to protect European rice farmers’ interests.
Chan Sokheang, chairman and CEO of Signatures of Asia Co Ltd, another localrice miller and exporter, said COVID-19 had diminished global demand fororganic rice.
Declining incomes during the COVID-19 epidemic have led people to opt for thetypes of rice they need, with less focus on organic rice, which costs almosttwice as much, he stated.
When the incomes increase, the purchase of organic milled rice will swell up inconsonance, he said./.
VNA
