Mango farms set for China checks
THE General Directorate of Agriculture said it had submitted a list of 25 mango farms and three treatment facilities to the Chinese General Administration of Customs for sanitary and phytosanitary inspections.
This comes after the farms and treatment facilities passed an initial check from inspectors from the directorate and as the government prepares for the first commercial shipment of fresh Cambodian mangoes of the ubiquitous Keo Romiet variety following three trial shipments to China via Vietnam at the start of December.
This was the second such list after the first on February 12, and brings the total to 30 farms and four treatment facilities, said the directorate, adding that approval would result in the Chinese side granting export permits for fresh mango.
Meanwhile, as mango prices plummeted at the beginning of this year’s harvest, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on February 23 reiterated its call for growers of the fruit to register their plantations as orchards for exports.
“In order to maintain stability in the price and market, the agriculture ministry will continue to invite, day in day out, all mango growers to register” at the directorate, the ministry
said in a statement.
Registration will include technical training for farmers to boost productivity and the quality of their produce in a manner consistent with internationallyrecognised standards, as well as incorporation into business clusters to connect with local and international companies and clinch contract farming agreements linked to processing for export, the ministry added.
Um Saroeun, president of the Kirirom Keo Romiet Mango Agricultural Community whose members grow on more than 2,000ha in Kampong Speu province, told The Post that seven of his community’s 45 members had applied to register their farms at the directorate.
Two of them had secured spots on the directorate’s lists, he said, voicing confidence that more members would apply.
“With certifications [issued by the directorate after passing preliminary inspections] in hand, we hope a company will buy mangoes from us to export to the Chinese market,” Saroeun said.
The ministry noted that simultaneous mango harvest seasons in Cambodia and elsewhere had saturated the market, outpaced demand and eroded prices since the beginning of this month, even as the Covid-19 pandemic maintains its economic stranglehold on the world.
The retail price of fresh mangoes in China today has dropped to between $1.10 and $1.20 per kilogramme, the ministry said, citing data from www.globalprice.info.
Saroeun, however, said the wholesale price of mango had capsized to just 200 riel ($0.05) per kilogramme in his area. “This price cannot be offset, given the cost of harvesting and transport.
“That being the case, mango can only secure a strong market with the presence of processing plants, which we recognise that the ministry is jumping through hoops to set up in our country,” he said.
In its mission to stage a rebound in mango prices on the market and increase incomes for producers, the ministry says it is in talks with countries such as South Korea, China and Japan on technical, hygiene and phytosanitary regulations to secure additional markets for Cambodian mango products.
Last month, the Kingdom reached an agreement with South Korea on phytosanitary requirements for commercial mango shipments to the East Asian economy.
The ministry in June signed the protocol on Phytosanitary requirements for the export of fresh Keo Romiet mangoes from Cambodia to the People’s Republic of China.
This allowed the Kingdom to the export 500,000 tonnes of fresh Keo Romiet mangoes per year to China.
A mid-December report from the directorate found that Cambodia has 124,319ha of mango plantations, of which 91,398ha are harvested with an average yield of 1,448,677 tonnes per season. This translates to an average of 15.85 tonnes per hectare per each of the year’s two seasons.
ASIAN markets suffered fresh losses on February 24 as concerns about rising inflation and frothy equity prices continued to sap confidence, with investors unmoved by reassurances from Federal Reserve (Fed) boss Jerome Powell that officials would maintain record-low interest rates for as long as needed.
Global stock indexes have cruised to all-time or multiyear highs in recent months thanks to government and central bank backing, the rollout of vaccines, easing of lockdowns, US President Joe Biden’s imminent stimulus and falling infection rates.
But the rally is showing signs of fatigue as traders fret that valuations may have run ahead of themselves, while the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds – a key red flag on inflation – has spiked.
That has led to worries the Fed will have to lift borrowing costs more quickly than expected, removing a key pillar of support for stocks.
Powell sought to soothe those concerns on February 23 in the first of two congressional testimonies, saying inflation
was expected to pick up and be “volatile” this year as people across the US begin to spend more but told lawmakers the increases were unlikely to be large or persistent.
He pledged to keep the bank’s vast bond-buying scheme and low rates in place “until substantial further progress has been made toward our goals” of two per cent inflation and full employment.
He added that the rise in yields showed “confidence on the part of markets that we will have a robust and ultimately complete recovery”.
US inflation had averaged less than two per cent over the
past 25 years, he said.
His comments helped Wall Street bounce off intra-day lows, with the Dow and S&P 500 ending slightly higher. But the Nasdaq fell as tech firms that rely more heavily on financing are most at risk from high interest rates.
Powell’s “success was striking a balanced tone”, said Axi’s Stephen Innes.
“Too dovish, and the chair risked exacerbating nearterm inflation concerns, and too hawkish of a lean and the Street will increasingly price a withdrawal in liquidity. So overall, the balancing act seems mostly designed to keeping risk assets steering on an even keel.”
But he warned the fear about rates remained in place, “and despite some great news on vaccine and stimulus, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the yield reaction to the reflation theme will likely be the central narrative of 2021”.
Hong Kong led Asia’s losses as it tanked three per cent after the city’s financial secretary said he would lift stamp duty on stock trades – the first in 28 years – in his budget as the government looks to tighten its belt. Bourse operator HKEx collapsed more than 12 per cent at one point before slightly recovering.
Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila all saw significant losses, with technology firms taking the brunt of the selling.
London and Frankfurt fell at the open while Paris was barely moved.
On currency markets, the pound held on to gains to sit at levels not seen since April 2018 thanks to a strong rollout of vaccines across Britain that has allowed the government to set out a plan to reopen the country by the summer.