Price woes for Kingdom’s non-GI pepper farmers
Union group fears for future of EU trade deal
WHILE geographic indication (GI) status Kampot pepper is commanding a good market price, the rest of the Kingdom’s pepper farmers are experiencing falling rates due to the lack of a robust market, according to the Memot Pepper association.
The Ministry of Commerce, however, has pointed to fluctuations in the international market as a factor in the falling prices
Yin Sopha, executive director of the Dar-Memot Pepper Agricultural Development Cooperative in Tbong Khmum province, said on Wednesday that prices have fallen since harvesting began earlier this month and a kilogramgram is going for approximately 11,000 riel ($2.75). He claimed this is the lowest rate in recent memory.
Speaking from the Kingdom’s largest pepper producing region, Sopha claimed the decline had been ongoing since last year when a kilogram went for between 15,000 and 20,000 riel.
As of 2016, Cambodia had 5,000 hectares of pepper fields, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, which claimed the country’s pepper exports grew from 1,050 tonnes in 2016 to 2,698 tonnes in 2017.
Sopha professed fears many businesses would die if the price continues to fall, claiming farmers were deeply dependent on neighbouring nations when selling their crop.
“Pepper prices depend on brokers from Vietnam, we have no market in hand, and [we] have no choice but to sell without making any profit,” he said. “If the price continue like this, farms will collapse.”
Von Savourn, a pepper farmer who has 5 hectares of land in Tbong Khmum province’s Memot district, thought the government should intervene to assist growers.
“The price keeps going down year by year, the government does nothing for us and does not care about us,” he said.
“We will give up pepper if there isn’t any intervention.”
Hean Vanhan, general director of the General Department of Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the ministry helps to promote production and contract farming, but matters relating to the market are the duty of the Ministry of Commerce.
Long Kemvichet, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said the current price drop is due to global market trends and is not a Cambodia-only issue.
“It is normal for the price to rise and fall based on demand and supply. The Ministry of Commerce is continuing to promote regular [non-GI] pepper as it is a product with great export potential,” he said, adding Cambodia has many international markets for pepper such as Vietnam, China and the EU.
While non-GI pepper is struggling amid price worries, prices of certified Kampot pepper continues to hold, Ngoun Lay, president of Kampot Pepper Promotion Association, said. The price of Kampot pepper is at $15 per kilogram for black pepper, $25 per kilogram for red pepper and $28 per kilogram for white pepper.
“Regular pepper always seems to face price dumping, as the supply is higher than demand,” Lay said. “We need to build trust in the market.” THE Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) on Wednesday issued a statement expressing its concern that the upcoming election will impact garment workers, and that if the political climate isn’t improved they could face dire consequences in the form of sanctions or boycotts.
CCU noted international concern has been growing beyond the Kingdom’s borders since the detention of the CNRP’s ex-President Kem Sokha last year, and the party’s dissolution. It was also noted by the confederation that much of the outcry has come from nations that import heavily from the country’s garment and textile industry.
Earlier this year, representatives from VF – the parent firm of brands such as The North Face, Jansport and Timberland – visited Cambodia and delivered a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen as well as to the Ministry of Labour, expressing their concern for “recent actions that seem to undermine progress toward improving worker rights”.
The petition said VF expects its suppliers to treat workers fairly and operate in a safe and free environment. “Actions by any government or entity that jeopardise our sourcing partners’ ability to meet our standards are unacceptable.”
VF sources from over 20 factories in Cambodia and spends between $350 and $400 million here every year, according to the Labour Ministry. A report from the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts showed that factories in the country generated $10.79 billion last year, $7 billion of which came from export-focused garment manufacturers.
Responding to questions about the EU’s “Everything But Arms” (EBA) scheme, which Cambodia benefits from, George Edgar, the EU’s ambassador to the Kingdom, said, “respect for fundamental human and labour rights is fundamental to the conduct of the EU’s trade policy and underpins the legal basis of our trade preferences, including preferences granted under the EBA trade scheme”.
Barbara Lochbihler, a member of the European Parliament, said earlier this month, “there will be a fact-finding mission about the [Cambodian] trade preferences in June, but those details have not been announced yet’’.
According to a World Bank report from 2016, 45 percent of Cambodia’s garment exports end up in the EU, while 25 percent go to the United States.
Rong Chhun president of the CCU, said, “we are concerned that after the vote, workers will lose their jobs. Many countries had meetings with the government and raised their concern about the political climate in Cambodia. Those countries – the US, the EU and Japan – said they want to see free and fair elections in Cambodia.”
Responding to the concerns of the CCU, Soum Aun, president of National Alliance Chamber of Cambodia, said:“When the election process is free and fair, foreign countries shouldn’t be upset,” he said, adding that “the EBA is not linked to who’s in prison, it’s about the working conditions of workers”.