Cambodia’s rice export continued to fall about 6 percent from the 283,825 tons in the first six months of last year to about 268,190 tons in same period this year, according to a report released by the General Department of Agriculture yesterday. Hean Vanhan, the deputy director of the General Department of Agriculture, told Khmer Times the drop in the volume of rice exports was partly due to millers and exporters not having enough capital to buy rice in the harvest season to store in warehouses for processing and export, as well as the flow of rice imported from Vietnam, while Thailand was releasing its rice to the market at a lower price.

“The drop is because there is no rice since some rice millers have no ability to buy rice to store in warehouses for processing. However, they get loans from banks to invest in purchasing rice machines and building warehouses. The question is where is the money to buy rice?” Mr. Vanhan said. “If there is no concrete and effective solutions, it will continue to drop next month and the month after,” he added.

Cambodia Rice Federation member Hun Lak told Khmer Times the decrease in Cambodian rice exports stemmed from the outside market since Thailand was releasing rice from its warehouses at a cheaper price, making it hard for Cambodia to compete as Cambodia’s production costs were higher. On the top of this, Cambodia does not have rice stocks since it released all its milled rice to the market in April.

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27001/rice-exports-continue-to-fall/

It looks as though they have stopped shipping rice over the border to Thailand for cash.

I wonder why?

You would think the drought would have the biggest impact on exports.