Cambodia Aims for 700,000 Tonnes 2010 Rice Exports

Jan 6 - Cambodia could export as much as 700,000 tonnes of rice this year, exporters and government officials said on Wednesday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain.

"I think we have the ability. We can do it," Chan Tong Yves, a secretary of state at the Agriculture Ministry, told Reuters, referring to the capacity to ship that volume of milled rice.

After decades of upheaval, the Southeast Asian country enjoyed a decade of relative stability and strong economic growth until the global crisis caused an economic contraction last year.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cambodia exported 500,000 tonnes of rice in 2008. No figures are yet available for 2009.

Demand for Southeast Asian rice is growing from the Middle East and big importers such as the Philippines. Thailand is the world's biggest exporter, followed by Vietnam since India enforced a ban on rice exports in late 2007.

Ny Lyheng, deputy general manager of Cambodian rice export firm Baitang (Kampuchea) PLC, said efforts were being made to improve the quality of local rice in order to sell more, seeing potential in the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Russia.

He said the European market had been duty-free for Cambodian rice since last September, under the EU's "Everything But Arms" initiative aimed at supporting exports from poor countries.

"The world is paying attention to us because Cambodia is becoming an emerging rice market," Lyheng said.

He estimated that his Baitang company could contribute about 300,000 tonnes of the 700,000 tonnes Cambodia was forecast to export this year.