Red corn prices enjoy surge on demand for domestic feed
PRICES of red corn have reportedly seen modest rises on surging demand for domestic feed production as the harvest season nears its end. In northwestern provinces, red corn is typically harvested twice a year between late June and August and then again between late October and February.
In Tbong Khmum province, however, the crop is harvested between July and August and then again between late February and March, according to Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries director Heng Piseth.
Provincial Department of Commerce director Toch Sokhon told The Post on March 1 that Tbong Khmum’s red corn harvest has reached the 50 per cent mark with the wholesale price of dried kernels now about 1,300 riel ($0.32) per kilogramme, up nearly 20 per cent from 1,100 riel in the yearago period.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tbong Khmum is the largest producer of red corn for domestic feed mills, with a production capacity of 56,750 tonnes per year on a total cultivated land of 10,790ha.
Sokhon said the bulk of the province’s red corn is sold to domestic feed mills, adding that increasing demand coupled with dwindling exports to Vietnam have buoyed the price.
He said he expects the heightened prices to provide an added boost to red corn cultivation this year.
“The price of dried red corn this year is better when compared to last year. Most of the red corn kernels here are bought by traders to [supply CP Cambodia Co Ltd’s] feed mills,” Sokhon said.
Piseth of the agriculture department said this harvest’s yields were similar to those during the same season last year.
He said red corn was planted on 6,560ha this season and is yielding an average of between 5.5 and 6.5 tonnes per hectare.
“The plantation area for corn now is
similar to last year, but buying prices for traders are better than they were last year,” he said.
In the northwestern provinces where the harvest has recently come to a close, prices are now seemingly higher year-on-year.
Battambang provincial Department of Commerce director Kim Hout noted a trend of farmers from neighbouring provinces selling their red corn to Battambang-based traders to then resell to Thailand.
He said the price of the crop at the end of last month when the harvest season closed was 1,200-1,300 riel per
kilogramme, a tad bit higher than the corresponding time last year.
Hout said about 70 per cent of Battambang’s red corn is exported by traders to Thailand, while the rest is sold to local animal feed producers such as CP Cambodia, a subsidiary of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group).
“Farmers growing red corn and cassava in Battambang this year are elated because of the high prices, although last year’s floods eroded some of the yields,” he added.
There are currently 18 domestic animal feed processing mills operating
in Cambodia, with a total production capacity of more than 1.2 million tonnes per year, which accounts for 56 per cent of the country’s total supply, according to the director-general of the ministry’s General Directorate of Animal Health and Production Tan Pannara.
As of December 29, total corn harvest area stood at 154,598ha with a total annual yield of 735,551 tonnes, according to a report from the directorate.
Cambodia exported a total of 194,625 tonnes of corn last year, an increase of 62.20 per cent from 119,993 tonnes in 2019, the ministry reported.
CHINESE investment in Australia plunged almost twothirds last year to less than $1 billion as the impact of coronavirus was compounded by increasingly fraught relations between the two countries.
The reading marks the fourth straight drop and is just a fraction of the $13 billion injected into the country in 2016, with Canberra growing increasingly wary of the Asian superpower’s intentions.
Data from the Australian National University (ANU) released on February 28 showed direct investment plunged to $800 million last year, from $2.05 billion in 2019.
The pandemic has almost halved investment globally according to UN trade body UNCTAD, but a much larger drop was seen in China-Australia flows, according to ANU economics professor Shiro Armstrong.
Last year China’s direct investment to Australia focused on just 20 projects in three sectors – real estate, mining and manufacturing – the fewest in a decade.
Armstrong said: “Naturally, this kind of data is lumpy, because of big projects, but there is a pretty clear trend we can see, since the peak in 2016 it has fallen every year quite steadily, quite dramatically.”
In 2016 there were a number of large investments from the China Investment Corp, a sovereign wealth fund, and China’s State Power Investment Corp bought Pacific Hydro Pty Ltd.
While China remains Australia’s largest trading partner, political relations are at their lowest in decades.
China has slapped punitive sanctions on a range of Australian exports as the two countries clash on a range of issues.
Armstrong said new Australian rules to screen investments for perceived risks to national security had a particularly chilling effect and could help explain the decline.
“There is a national security test now for foreign investment, there have been high profile cases of Chinese investments being withdrawn” he said. “That shakes confidence in foreign investors.”
Australia has rejected Chinese bids for Japanese-owned Lion Dairy and local construction firm Probuild.
The Department of the Treasury is also reviewing existing investments, a probe that could lead to some projects being unwound on “national security grounds”.
That review is expected to conclude by December 10.
According to Australian government figures, China is the ninth-largest investor in the country, well behind the US, Britain, the EU and Japan.
Unlike official data, the ANU figures include investment from Chinese subsidiaries already operating in Australia, and track investments rather than announcements of investments to come.
FOR Kerry Worldbridge Logistics Ltd – the Kingdom’s leading one-stop domestic express service and logistics solutions provider – the surge for on-demand and last-mile delivery services has led to a refocusing of its business strategies over the past year.
“The global Covid-19 pandemic has meant we have had to transform our work processes and the way we do things in order to meet the changing needs of our customers.
“With movement control measures in place, the outbreak intensified the shift towards online shopping that in turn triggered a rise in demand for express services domestically. As result, our renewed focus on coverage, efficiency and service became the catalyst for meeting this market shift.
“We provide a full range of services, from warehousing and transport to import and export. One major service for us is last-mile delivery because this puts us in touch with many end customers.
“Customer satisfaction remains the core focus of our daily operations. This is reflected in our constant pursuit of service excellence. We focus on service because this is what really sets a company apart from its competitors,” said Kerry Worldbridge Logistics manager Dickson Pang.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, with other regional offices in Thailand and Vietnam, Kerry Worldbridge began operations in Cambodia in 2015, and
Pang sees the logistics firm as perfectly placed to capitalise on the sector’s growth.
Recent joint research conducted by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company indicates that there are some 360 million mobile internet users in Southeast Asia, with the region’s e-commerce sector projected to reach $150 billion by 2025, from $38 billion in 2019.
And with the Cambodian freight and logistics market expected to reach a market value of $2.25 billion by 2023, according to MarketReportsWorld.com, logistics is set to be one of the Kingdom’s sunrise sectors.
With expectations of exponential growth gaining traction, especially in the express and last-mile delivery service sectors, Kerry Worldbridge has accelerated its plans to become the onestop service provider with the widest nationwide coverage.
“While we presently provide delivery services covering the entire country through an established network of 50 regional branches, there are plans to further expand operations to include service coverage to even the most remote areas in Cambodia.
“In order to generate wider coverage for our customers, we have created convenient parcel drop-off and delivery points in partnership with chains such as Aeon, Circle K and PTT service stations, to name but a few, that operate in both urban and rural areas.
This year we plan to increase these points to more
than 300, which will be supported by our extensive branch network.
“We are also in the process of upgrading warehouse infrastructure and increasing the capacity of our coldchain logistics services to accommodate increased demand.
“Supported by our stateof-the-art warehouses and existing and brand new fleets of refrigerated trucks able to maintain temperatures between zero Celsius to -20C, our cold chain meets the highest international standards.
“While we mostly cater for the business-to-business segment, we are already in discussions with companies to expand it to business-tocustomer.
“Our cold chain will be fully complete in the third quarter
of this year,” Pang said.
With its competitive prices, and on top of managing the clearance, warehousing and transportation of various products for more than 200 corporate customers, Kerry Worldbridge makes an average of 4,000 express deliveries every day, he added.
And while Kerry Worldbridge embraces the latest technology – including looking at environment friendly vehicles – to provide the highest standards of service, Pang says it is investing in human capital that best pays off.
“Last year we invested millions in warehousing, equipment and IT to speed up the packing process. But this does not mean we will stop hiring people – providing jobs boosts economic growth and
increases our coverage and the quality of the services we bring to the market.
“Our continual investment in logistics and delivery infrastructure together with the development of local talent has enabled us to reach 85 per cent delivery coverage nationwide – Cambodians make up 99.8 per cent of our 500-strong workforce.
“We promote a culture that realises the full potential of our staff, one in which they develop expertise throughout the entire logistics supply chain.
“We have automation solutions in place, but this will not replace people – we have no intention to use drones or other technology that replaces the human factor because we believe localisation is the secret to success in last-mile delivery,” he said.
BRITAIN announced on February 28 that it has given more than 20 million people at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with the rapid rollout providing hope in a country with Europe’s highest death toll.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it “a huge national achievement” while praising National Health Service (NHS) staff and others involved for “tireless work”.
Health secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement in a video message on Twitter, saying: “I’m absolutely delighted that over 20 million people have now been vaccinated.”
A total of 20,089,551 people have received a first dose, according to government figures released on February 28.
But dampening the good news was the detection of a coronavirus strain that emerged in Brazil, which is feared to be more contagious and more resistant to vaccines.
In mid-February, the UK met a government target of 15 million of the most vulnerable people receiving first doses.
The government says it plans to offer a first jab to the whole adult population by the end of July.
Only Israel and the UAE have vaccinated more people per head of population.
Smiling, Hancock said “I want to thank every single person who has come forward to
get the jab”, calling this “the route out of this for all of us”.
“There’s a long way to go but we’re making big strides,” he said.
The UK’s vaccination programme has rolled out fast since its start in early December, when it became the first country in the world to begin mass inoculation with a fully
trialled vaccine.
Earlier failures in contact tracing and controlling the spread of infection saw cases soar in the UK and the country’s death toll of 122,705 is the highest in Europe.
The country is still under national lockdown but daily cases, hospitalisations and deaths have all fallen dramatically
since late in January, despite the emergence of a more infectious variant in the country.
Another variant that emerged in Manaus, northern Brazil, has been detected in six people in the UK, one of whom could not be located due to incomplete contact information, health authorities said on February 28.
There were 6,035 new daily cases reported February 28 and 144 deaths, the lowest figures since early autumn.
On February 25, Britain lowered the country’s virus alert level down one notch from the highest possible, saying the fall in cases had reduced the threat to the state-run NHS.