Agricultural commodities, processing and products
Crop products and commodities
Gov’t eyes million-tonne rice quota deal with Indonesia
Cambodia is close to signing an ambitious agreement with the Indonesian government that would pave the way for the Kingdom’s rice producers to export 1 million tonnes of rice under a new quota scheme, a state official said on October 24. Soeng Sophary, spokesperson for the ...
Myanmar weighs merits of India bean agreement
India is playing hardball with Myanmar’s beans and pulses sector, pushing for a per-tonne deal that falls well short of domestic market rates. Assistant director of the Ministry of Commerce U Khin Maung Lwin confirmed that Myanmar and India are locked in negotiations over a proposed ...
Rice harvest prompts wary sales
The government will pause its efforts to dispose of state rice stocks to curb any adverse impact on domestic rice prices as the latest harvest enters the market. According to Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, with the annual rice harvest season beginning ...
President urges LuangPrabang to make full use of potential
President Bounnhang Vorachit has instructed Luang Prabang authorities to make full use of the province’s tourism and agriculture potential to drive development and improve local livelihoods. The president gave the advice at his first stop on a visit to the northern provinces of Luang Prabang and ...
Vanishing Mekong? shifting tropical storms threaten a great river delta
Recent changes in the patterns of tropical storms are threatening the future of the Mekong River delta in Vietnam. This is one of the world’s great deltas. It is home to more than 20m people and the rice that is grown on its fertile land ...
Huge challenges still facing Vietnam's economy
It has been five years since the economic restructuring programme was launched, and despite some improvements to the Vietnamese economy, there has been little change in the growth model. For that reason, many have called for a reconsideration of the restructuring methods used over the past ...
Export optimism varies according to sector
Despite signs of a recovery in the export sector, Thai manufacturers and exporters have been encouraged to focus more on product development, brand recognition, and adding value to enhance competitiveness in global markets. For the rest of this year, exporters expect exchange-rate fluctuations will still ...
Mother Nature and a hydropower onslaught aren’t the Mekong Delta’s only problems
Early this year, many Mekong Delta farmers fought a losing battle against an epic drought, the worst since 1926. Was the drought a harbinger of climate change? Perhaps it was, but more certainly it was an artifact of El Niño. The same ocean-warming phenomenon that ...
China’s Xi Jinping visits King, Hun Sen
Throngs of cheering school children greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in the capital on October 13, with balaclava-clad soldiers enforcing order and whole sections of the city shut down as he paid visits to the King and the prime minister. On his first ...
Judges and rice: Cambodia's expanding reliance on China
Cambodia is rapidly expanding its diplomatic affair with China. Early last week it appealed to Beijing for help amid plunging rice pricesand then three days later Phnom Penh signed an MoU seeking Chinese assistance in overhauling its much maligned judiciary. The memorandum of understanding allows China ...
