Cambodia's private sector exports of milled rice expected to rise 10 folds in 2009

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 2 (Chinese media) -- Cambodia may see a

10-fold increase in private sector milled rice exports this year, up to 200,000

tons from 20,000 tons in 2008, due to greater milling capacity and emergence of

new markets, national media said on Monday.

The rise would come despite higher government stock

requirement, English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh quoted the

Federation of Cambodian Rice Miller Associations (FCRMA), as saying.

The private sector is required to maintain minimum

stocks of 500,000 tons in 2009, up from 400,000 tons in 2008, it said.

About 300,000 tons have already been collected from

the latest harvest, and the industry is using 15 million U.S. dollars of

low-interest bank loans to enhance the capacity and quality of milling through

upgrading infrastructure, said FCRMA president Phou Puy.

The industry has also expanded the overseas market

and plans to export over 200,000 tons of rice to Germany, Malaysia, Brunei and

Saudi Arabia, he added.

Among the countries beside the Mekong River, where

rice plantation is popular, Cambodia only lags behind Thailand and Vietnam in

the fields of rice exports.