Smuggling blamed as rice exports drop 3pct
New capital ferry service begins operations today
CAMBODIA’S rice exports declined in the first quarter of the year, down 3 percent compared to the first three months of last year, a slide that rice exporters and industry representatives blamed on smuggling operations operating with impunity.
According to Agriculture Ministry data released yesterday, Cambodia exported 161,115 tonnes of rice in the first quarter of this year, down from 166,678 tonnes last year.
That’s despite a bumper year for the rice crop, as an improved harvest and strong international market have drawn higher prices from brokers and middlemen coming to buy rice and transport it illegally into Thailand and Vietnam.
“The international rice market is good . . . so the demand for paddy rice increased,” said Hun Lak, vice president of the rice industry body Cambodia Rice Federation.
“Rice exporters could not buy the rice before brokers from the border bought it from the farmers,” he said, adding that the entire year’s export numbers could be harmed if authorities did not intervene to block rice smugglers.
Hean Vanhan, director-general at the Agriculture Ministry’s General Directorate of Agriculture, could not be reached yesterday. Last week, he told The Post the government could not crack down on rice smuggling because it would place a large strain on local rice farmers.
“Even we [rice exporters] have the orders from abroad, but we do not have the stock on hand,” Lak said yesterday. “How can we supply? That’s why the export figure went down.”
Smuggled rice is a regular problem for Cambodia’s rice sector. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation forecasted that 44 percent of Cambodia’s total rice exports this year would be smuggled out of the country, which, while problematic for the industry, would be an improvement over previous years.
Song Saran, CEO of rice exporter Amru Rice, said that fluctuations in the rice market were normal, and said that farmers would benefit from the higher paddy rice prices.
“It is a good option for farmers to sell their paddy rice, they don’t have to worry about the price since brokers from [neighbouring countries] also pay a good price,” he said.
Dem Srey Lim, a rice farmer in Battambang’s Sangke district who owns 5 hectares of rice fields, said the price this year for paddy rice was good, up to 1,700 riel per kilogram, compared to just 1,200 riel per kilogram the year before.
“Our paddy rice price is good, we are happy to sell all paddy rice,” she said, “We like to sell to Vietnamese brokers, as they pay us cash directly in the field. If we sold to a local broker, they are a week late to pay us.” A FERRY service is set to open on Friday that will take passengers along the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac rivers, making three stops in Phnom Penh and one in Kandal province’s Takhmao City, according to a spokesman at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT).
Transport Minister Sun Chanthol is scheduled to preside over the opening ceremony held at one of the four stops, near the capital’s night market in Daun Penh district. The other three stops are in Russey Keo to the north, and Chaktomuk and Takhmao City to the south.
“We will start with four initial terminals and continue to build more terminals,” ministry spokesman Va Sim Sorya said yesterday, noting that stops would eventually reach as far north as Prek Phnov district.
The ferry service will temporarily be free for passengers, but will eventually transition to a paid system, Sorya said, adding he could not provide details on the schedule, price, or passenger capacity of the service.
The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port is set to operate the service using three vessels during the initial launch period. The company’s CEO Hei Bavy could not be reached yesterday.
The MPWT said in a Facebook post in January that it planned to eventually open 15 terminals along the river.
The ferry service is the latest launch of a new public transportation option in the country. A new rail line in Banteay Meanchey province connecting Poipet to Serei Saophoan opened on Wednesday, and a rail service from Phnom Penh International Airport to the train station on Monivong Boulevard is scheduled to open before Khmer New Year.
Both of those services will also be free during their initial launch periods.