Agricultural commodities, processing and products
Crop products and commodities
Sugar yield quells ethanol shortage fear
Ethanol shortage concerns in Thailand have subsided on the good sugar yield from the latest sugar cane crop, providing abundant molasses for the ethanol industry, says a senior industrial official. Thai SugarMillers Corporation Ltd, which includes all Thai 52 sugar factories, said the current 2016/17 ...
China to buy 20,000 tonnes of organic rice from Laos
China has approved the purchase of 20,000 tonnes of organic rice a year from Laos, according to Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. Mr Thongloun said in talks with Khong district authorities in Champassak province last week that Chinese premier Li Keqiang had agreed to the deal. The ...
Vietnam fears protectionism will affect farm produce exports
Vietnam in 2016 saw a high farm produce trade surplus of $7.6 billion, but big difficulties are still ahead, including returning protectionism with Brexit and US President-elect Donald Trump. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a press conference on January ...
Draft consumer law completed
The Ministry of Commerce has finished the draft consumer protection law and will soon submit it to the Council of Ministers, according to a senior government official. Mao Thora, the ministry’s secretary of state, said yesterday that all chapters of the draft had been completed ...
Firmer prospects as rubber rebounds
Cambodia’s beleaguered rubber industry looks set for a turnaround as international rubber prices continue their strong rebound. Local traders and industry officials said on January 12 they were optimistic that rubber prices, which doubled during the course of 2016, would continue to rise as the ...
Cassava woes still persist
Local cassava producers still do not fully understand the process of obtaining a sanitary and phytosanitary certification, a necessity for those exporting their produce to Thailand. Department of Agriculture deputy director-general Hean Vanhan said that there were no barriers for local cassava vendors to export to ...
Battambang dam 98 percent complete
Construction of a $100 million dam project and the largest reservoir in Battambang province is 98 percent complete and scheduled to be finished before Khmer New Year in April. The Battambang Multipurpose Dam, located in Ratanak Mondul district’s Plov Meas commune, has dikes connecting one mountain ...
Crisis relief measures hammered out
The government has teamed up with construction material and consumer product companies to offer special discounts to flood victims in the southern provinces. Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, permanent secretary for commerce, said the traders agreed to the discounts following talks with the Commerce Ministry. The reductions will ...
Cambodia’s salt yield to fall
Salt production in Kampot and Kep provinces will be down this year due to unseasonal rain during the harvest season and a lack of laborers to farm the salt, according to the Salt Association of Kampot and Kep. Bun Baraing, co-executive director of the salt association, ...
All state rice stocks to be disposed of this year
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha wants all existing state rice stocks to be disposed of within this year. Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, permanent secretary for commerce, said Gen Prayut, who chaired the national rice policy committee’s meeting on January 9, has ordered officials handling state rice sales to ...
