Cambodia plans to export rice to Kuwait

Cambodia plans to export milled rice to Kuwait, according to senior officials at the Ministry of Commerce, in what was described as market diversification.

The ministry announced the purchase agreement has been scheduled for signing next month.

“The Ministry of Commerce is trying to seek more markets for exporting milled rice. In March this year the ministry will sign the milled rice deal that will allow the product to be sold to Kuwait,” Chan Sokty, director-general of domestic trade, said.

Both countries are hoping to have finalise talks today and agree upon the proposed milled rice purchase agreement, Sokty added. However, the volume of predicted milled rice exports was not disclosed. Lun Yeng, secretary-general of the Cambodia Rice Federation, said that he will seek to further their understanding of the rice market in Kuwait to determine the potential volume of export.

“After the meeting, we will follow up on the amount that we can expect to be exporting. This will be done by comparing the amount with already exporting countries such as Thailand,” Yeng said.

Cambodia already exports milled rice to the United Arabic Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Yeng said. In 2019, Cambodia exported 620,106 tonnes of milled rice to foreign markets, a 1 percent decrease from 2018. Of this, 240,000 tonnes were exported to China.

The European Union, the country’s second-biggest milled rice market after China, is currently implementing the safeguard clause imposed on white long-grain rice from Cambodia. This is the second year since the tariff duty became effective in February 2019.