Kith Meng in running for the top job in rice + Rice sector credit boost + Paddy rice farms curb loss

[geovalin]

Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara

Kith Meng, head of the Cambodian conglomerate Royal Group, has nominated himself for chairperson of the newly created Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), according to the Ministry of Commerce’s finalised short list obtained by the Post yesterday.

Nominated in his capacity as director general of ANZ Royal Group, Meng will be running against Yorn Sovann, president of Bayon Cereal Company; Lim Bunheng, president of Cambodia Rice Exporters; Sok Puthyvuth, president of Soma Group and son of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An; and Te Taing Por, chairman of the Federation of Associations of Small and Medium-size Enterprise of Cambodia in a May election.

Meng, also the president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, could not be reached for comment.

Fellow candidate, Taing Por told the Post that his own experience working with small businesses put him in strong stead for the highly coveted role.

“For me, I don’t want to get anything from this. What I want is to boost and promote the sector to achieve the goal,” Por said, referring to the government’s goal of a million tonnes of rice to be exported by 2015.

The ministry announced the creation of the CRF last month, a leading industry body tasked with improving the sector’s competitiveness overseas.

The Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters released a statement yesterday urging rice millers and exporters to apply for membership of the CRF, a status that grants voting rights in May’s election.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kith-meng-running-top-job-rice

+++++++++++++++++++++

Chan Muyhong

The government-backed Rural Development Bank (RDB) will lend $64 million to Cambodia’s agriculture sector in 2014, the bank’s top official said yesterday.

Sun Kunthor, president of RDB, said most of the funding would be used to support growth in Cambodia’s rice sector as it strives to meet the government’s export target of one million tonnes by 2015.

“The rice sector needs more than $300 million to reach its full potential,” Kunthor said.

Kunthor added that credit from Cambodia’s commercial-banking sector would also help to fund the remaining investment needed in the industry.

More funding is welcomed by local millers who say it will help stem the flow of paddy lost to neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. But the RDB will need to make loans more accessible if the industry is to take full advantage of the credit injection, millers say.

“I used to get a loan from the RDB for two years,” said Lim Bun Heng, the president of Loran Company, one of Cambodia’s biggest rice exporters.

“Last year, I sent a loan request to RDB again, but I never heard anything back, so now I only get loans from the commercial bank.”

Lay Ser, a rice miller from Battambang province is another who says that the RDB struggles to compete.

“The interest rate from the RDB is cheaper compared to commercial banks, but I have to pay for the procedure service, in total making it higher than what commercial banks offer,” he said.

Yang Saing Komar, president of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, said that interest rates in Cambodia were still among the highest in the region, making it difficult for local producers to compete with neighbouring countries.

“If RDB could provide a larger amount of loans and keep the interest rate lower, that would give more benefits to the sector,” he said.

The $64 million credit injection includes $20 million from RDB, $36 million from the paddy rice foundation at the Ministry of Economic and Finance and $8 million from the Bank of China.

In Channy, CEO of Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, last month said agricultural lending activities had contributed significantly to the finance sector’s year on year growth.

According to Channy, agricultural related lending increased 28 per cent from $552 million in loans in 2012 to more than $710 million in 2013.

“This growth is mainly contributed by the Rice Policy introduced by the Royal Government in 2010, which can guarantee market conditions for farmers, processors and traders,” he said.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Mon, 7 April 2014

Chan Muyhong

Cambodian paddy rice production fell only slightly during the first half of this year’s dry season, despite 12,000 hectares of usually productive land deemed unusable due to last year’s floods.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, dry season paddy rice production between December and April fell 1.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Farmers have produced more than 2.11 million tonnes of paddy rice so far this dry season, down from more than 2.15 million tonnes in 2013.

The government commended the farmers’ efforts, citing a 2.5 per cent drop in producing land, due to the effects of flooding. On average, farmers actually increased their average tonnage per hectare from 4.1 tonnes in 2013 to 4.3 tonnes this year, according to the ministry.

Pich Romnea, deputy director of ministry’s paddy rice production department said farmers employing better farming techniques such as water irrigation methods and using dry season appropriate rice varieties helped to curtail yield losses.

“They are using unmixed-seeds, better farming technique and we have seen less insects and bugs damaging the paddy rice this dry season,” he said.

Nheb Sron, director of the agriculture department of Takeo Province, said establishing more irrigation systems throughout the province had pushed the harvest higher.

“More irrigation systems have been built in four districts within Takeo province, which make rice production possible during the dry season,” he added.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/paddy-rice-farms-curb-losses-lost-land