Rice sector continues its struggle in first half
Cambodian rice exports decreased nearly 6 per cent year-on-year during the first semester, reinforcing concerns about the future of the rice industry, the Kingdom’s most important agricultural sector. A report released on 7 July by the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export showed Cambodia exported a total of 268,190 tonnes during the first six months of 2016, down 5.8 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier. “Rice exports fell during four of the first six months of the year, which is a warning that we need to work together to solve the sector’s problems,” Hean Vanhan, deputy director-general of the agriculture department of the Ministry of Agriculture said, “Rice millers don’t have enough rice in stock, and we recognise that they lack funds.”