Cash-crop exports 200K tonnes in Jan
CAMBODIA exported 203,485 tonnes of seven major cash crops last month, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The ministry lists these as milled rice, natural rubber, corn, cashew nuts, peppercorn, as well as fresh bananas, chillies and mangoes.
The Kingdom shipped out 34,273 tonnes of milled rice worth $30.76 million to 28 international markets, down 32.07 tonnes or 0.094 per cent from January last year.
Rubber product exports reached 52,711 tonnes last month, up nine per cent year-on-year, worth $84.49 million, with the average price of the commodity averaging about $1,603 per tonne, marking a $232 yearon-year climb.
The going-rate for rubber from smaller-scale traders or farmers last month was in the range of 5,500-5,900 riel ($1.35-$1.45) per kilogramme for 100 per cent dry rubber content (DRC 100%) latex and 2,300-2,850 riel for lump latex (DRC 50%).
Cambodia also sold 44,471 tonnes of corn, 40,956 tonnes of fresh bananas, 16,252 tonnes of fresh chillies, 11,637 tonnes of fresh mangoes, 3,183 tonnes of cashews nuts and two tonnes of peppercorn.
In Lai Huot, owner of the
Madam Huot cashew nut processing cottage industry in southwestern Kampong Thom province’s Kampong Svay district, told The Post that her business was ploughing on to fulfil Top Planning Japan Co Ltd’s 15-tonne order of finished product.
ShesaidMadamHuotlaunched its first cashew processing plant late in December, investing $200,000 in a joint venture with the Japanese company.
“We’ve been on the trot processing cashew nuts to supply the company on time as spelled out in the contract, which is to kick in from February. We’re pretty stoked that the Japanese firm has committed to buy finished cashew nuts from us and export them to its market,” Lay Huot said.
Recent adverse weather conditions has pushed the harvest season to mid-March, she said, adding that the nuts had only just begun to sprout at most plantations.
Cashew nuts now command wholesale prices in the region of $1,500 per tonne, on par with last year, she said. “Fingers crossed that the price of cashew nuts from this year’s harvest will be sounder than last year given that the market seems to have perked up a little bit earlier in the year.”
Cambodian Pepper and Spices Federation president Mak Ny told The Post that the price of peppercorn without geographical indication (GI) status had registered a year-on-year rise, from 8,000 riel at the beginning of last year to 10,000 riel now.
He said prices of the fruit has seen a rebound on the back of muted production in Vietnam and dwindling global stockpiles, which has ratcheted up demand for peppercorn.
“Time after time, we still prefer our customers to be direct ones, rather than relying on the Vietnamese market,” Ny said.
He added that German exporter Fuchs (Cambodia) Co Ltd this year upped their annual order of peppercorn from federation members from 800 to 1,000 tonnes.
“I remain optimistic that Cambodian pepper will persevere in its important role of supplying the international market, in terms of quality and price, and I believe that this year’s pepper prices will carry on rising,” he said.
Cambodia exported 8.55 million tonnes of six major cash crops, through formal and informal channels, worth more than $2.32 billion last year as of December 15, according to agriculture minister Veng Sakhon.
In a December 24 post on his official Facebook page, the minister listed the crops as cassava, cashew nuts, mangoes, yellow bananas, peppercorn and Pailin longan.
THE Ministry of Economy and Finance’s General Department of Taxation (GDT) collected 879.68 billion riel ($217.2 million) in tax revenue last month, down 77.08 billion riel or 8.06 per cent compared to 2020, it said in a February 15 press release.
This comes even as tax collection from the three main sources of revenue – “income”, “payroll” and “special” – enjoyed year-on-year gains, with economists quick to peg the decline on government policies granting preferential treatment for sectors that face severe ongoing distress from the Covid-19 crisis.
Still, last month’s figure accounts for 9.68 per cent of the 9.08442 trillion riel annual target – well over one-twelfth, GDT said.
Broken down by category, income tax made up the largest share of revenue last month, raking in 173.79 billion riel (up 7.26 per cent year-on-year), followed by payroll tax (91.31 billion riel, up 10.07 per cent) and special tax (77.10 billion riel, up 5.53 per cent).
GDT director-general Kong Vibol told online media outlet Fresh News that January’s tax revenue numbers had not decreased month-onmonth and that this year’s collection level is poised to be slightly higher than in 2020.
“The decline in tax revenue over the first month was due to the [new] Covid-19 cases as well as the overall economic situation,” he said.
Hong Vanak, director of International Economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, told The
on February 16 that the government’s preferential schemes for the Kingdom’s more embattled sectors were the root causes of last month’s underwhelming tax-collection performance.
He dismissed concerns that tax collection would impose a significant burden on government revenue, contending that the state is fully aware of the economic situation and the circumstances surrounding it.
“This dip in revenue is related to
the government’s tax-easing policies. I do not think this is a concern,” he said, writing off opinions that suspensions and closures of businesses had played a larger role.
He instead called for greater attention to the three main sources of tax revenue, which he stressed are benchmarks for domestic consumer demand and employment rate.
“In view of the current situation and the introduction of the government policies, I don’t think this
year’s revenue collection will be all that different from 2020.
“However, if the government can effectively control the collection of taxes in some key sectors, [such as construction and real estate], revenue collection in 2021 may increase slightly compared to last year,” Vanak said.
GDT collected 11.70052 trillion riel in tax revenue last year, up 423.20 billion riel or 3.73 per cent compared to 2019, it said in a press release issued on January 11, 2020.
HIGH streets around the world are changing rapidly. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a great many store closures and seen more and more businesses shift online in our major export markets. These changes look like they will be permanent, as it is simply more profitable for brands to avoid the costly outlay of paying rent on physical stores. In fact, in future, there is talk that major brands may have just a few “flagship” stores as a showcase for their products – with the rest of their business going online.
There are major implications for garment manufacturers in Bangladesh. More than ever, production hubs need to adapt and evolve to remain relevant for brands and to be able to service their ever-changing requirements.
Bangladesh must not be a passive bystander, like a rabbit caught in the headlights, amid this shifting environment. We must embrace the changes which are taking place, and with this in mind, I offer five suggestions on how the Bangladeshi Readymade Garment (RMG) sector can improve its offering to brands.
Number one is speed. As indicated, brands want shorter runs, but they want them faster. This focus on rapid changeovers is a particular hallmark of the online fashion market, where the emphasis is on the continued updating of styles and lines. For evidence, one only needs to visit the website of an online business such as Asos, where the sheer wealth and breadth of offering and the way things are updated at such a rapid rate is something to behold.
Consider also, here, Boohoo. This British business now produces a lot of its clothing in the UK, to be closer to the market and provide it with speed and agility. This is what we are competing with in Bangladesh; therefore, everyone along the value chain need to be on board, whether that be logistics, infrastructure, factory layout and so on.
Number two is safety. One of the strengths of Bangladesh’s RMG industry is that it is now acknowledged as among the safest in the world after the work of the Bangladesh Accord and US-based Alliance in improving factory safety.
As an industry we can still use this as a selling tool with our brand partners. Just recently we saw a factory disaster in Morocco, and we continue to see other incidents in sourcing
hubs such as India and Pakistan.
Ours is an industry where health and safety was for far too long neglected. Thankfully, Bangladesh went through a massive investment process to make its factories safer for workers. This is a continuous process of improvement but, at the present time, we can say with confidence that ours is the safest major garment manufacturing country in the world. That’s a huge sell to brands.
The third selling tool for brands is recycling and circularity. It was announced recently that dozens of RMG factories in Bangladesh will take part in a new circular fashion partnership, a cross-sectorial project led by Global Fashion Agenda, with partners Reverse Resources, BGMEA and P4G.
We need more initiatives like this. Recycling and circularity is the future for our industry. Brands love it and will always want to be involved in projects which promote the circular economy. Often it is difficult for brands to find the right industrial partners for this kind of work, so Bangladesh needs to make itself a one-stop shop — a place where brands can go to establish turnkey solutions to meet their circularity objectives.
The above brings us onto point
number four which is sustainable production. Let us not wait for brands to nudge and push us on sustainability issues. Instead, why can’t we take the lead ourselves as individual factory owners and as an industry collectively? We must stop seeing sustainability as a “cost” and a headache and instead start seeing it as a prerequisite for doing business with large, blue chip retail brands. That is the stark commercial reality we are facing right now, in common with our competitors.
We can all complain about the costs of investment, which can be onerous, but these issues are not going to go away. As an industry, we all have to bite the bullet and make the necessary investments in factory and technological upgrading, in renewable energy and so on. The “return” on this investment will be the continued business of brands in a world where issues such as carbon emissions are becoming more and more prominent in purchasing decisions.
The final selling tool for brands I would propose right now is Bangladesh as a safe pair of hands. Who would have thought one might ever be able to say that about Bangladesh and its RMG sector? In fact, we have had a very stable period in the years
since the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, which was such a huge wake-up call for all of us.
Industrial relations are not perfect, but they are far less volatile than in other competitor garment hubs. We have not had the “forced/prison” labour issues witnessed in China during the past 12 months (which the US has responded to by placing sanctions on products facing Chinese cotton). We do not have the political upheaval we are seeing in Myanmar and, to a lesser extent, Ethiopia. In fact, of all the sourcing hubs, I would say Bangladesh has been the most stable over the past five years (with the exception of the unforeseen event of Covid-19, a pandemic which has impacted us all in different ways).
In short, brands know what they are getting when they come to Bangladesh: quality goods and highly competitive prices, working with knowledgeable, seasoned manufacturers. In an uncertain world and these unprecedented times in which we are living, it’s impossible to put a price on this kind of stability and familiarity.