PHNOM PENH: CAMBODIA has lifted its ban on rice exports as concerns mount of an oversupply in the domestic market.
The ban was initially imposed on April 5 due to fears of food supply shortages amid the Covid-19 pandemic, although it allowed contracts to be honoured.
The government announced yesterday that the private sector could resume the export of white rice to the international market from May 20. This comes after a request to lift the ban was made by the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF).
The lifting of the ban also comes as the Philippines seeks to import an additional 300,000 tonnes of milled rice from major producers in Southeast Asia.
The Khmer Times reports that over the past few weeks, CRF has been requesting the government to revise the ban of white rice exports "as soon as possible" so that rice millers could clear old stock and pay back debt owed to padi farmers.
Rice millers have also been concerned that an oversupply would occur and they would not be ready to buy padi during the early July harvest.
CRF chairman Hun Lak said he welcomed the government's move and that Cambodia now had a food safety net.
"We now have enough rice and padi to supply the domestic market.
"From April until now, we exported on average of 70,000 tonnes of rice per month, with 85 per cent of this being fragrant rice, while white rice has been the other 15 per cent."
CRF president Song Saran said the storage capacity of rice mills in Cambodia was at 1.9 million tonnes per season, with silo capacity at approximately 45,000 tonnes per day.
He told The Phnom Penh Post that lifting the ban would boost Cambodia's white rice exports to countries facing food shortages.
"We know that Covid-19 has affected food supply chains and this will contribute to the food needs of other countries.
"At the same time, it will help us create jobs for millers and farmers."
The Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, wants to order around 300,000 tonnes of milled rice from a number of rice producing countries in the region, including Cambodia, to increase state rice stockpiles.
Its government had asked major rice producers in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and India to ship milled rice before the third quarter.
As the Philippines sought to import more rice, CRF had called on the country to order rice from Cambodia, said Saran.
Only 200 tonnes of milled rice was exported to the Philippines in the first four months of this year, government data shows.
"Cambodia is focused on exporting fragrant rice, premium rice of which nearly 80 per cent is exported to international markets, so we are studying the possibility of any quantity that we can export to the Philippines.
"We hope that we will find a trade partner in the Philippines, and we call on companies in the Philippines to order rice from Cambodia," Saran said.
CRF data shows that total rice exports to international markets reached more than 300,000 tonnes in the first four months of the year, up 40.46 per cent over the same period last year.