American business group Akra, led by Cambodian-born former US ambassador to the United Nations, Sichan Siv, has signed an agreement with a rice mill under a new co-operative structure it says puts ownership and profits back in to the hands of Cambodian producers.
Akra’s managing director Thomas Willems said that with buyers waiting in the US and Europe, the signing of the mill puts the co-operative in motion.
“We have our first agreement signed with our first miller. We are effectively working on the shipping companies right now; we have goods coming this way, so we have started that process,” Willems said.
“Now that we have the agreement signed this is all starting to move forward.”
The ambitious project aims to create immediate efficiencies, with the introduction of new technology, and realise greater margins by enhancing production capabilities to target retail rather than world commodity prices. …
“Our goal is to work with the millers to bring in bagging equipment so that we can actually bring it to the retail stores in America and Europe, where they are selling rice per pound, not per tonne.
Kim Savuth, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters, said he welcomes such innovative business ideas; his concern, however, is a lack of interest from the farmers themselves….
Daniel de Carteret and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020861251/Business/akra-co-op-signs-first-rice-mill-agreement.html
Cambodian company Soma Group has signed a joint-venture agreement with Thai-based CP Intertrade to build and operate a $20 million rice mill that will process fragrant rice for export.
Industry insiders say the mill will increase Cambodia’s rice export capacity and boost the Kingdom’s ability to produce quality rice for the international market.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Soma Group chief executive Sok Puthyvuth, the son of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, and Sumeth Laomoranphorn, a representative of CP Intertrade, an agricultural distrib-ution company in Bangkok. …
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012460970/Business/20m-mill-will-lift-rice-exports.html
Canadia Bank will launch a rice mill in Cambodia’s Takeo province in October, a move that insiders said could help curb the flow of unmilled rice to neighbouring Vietnam.
Bank officials yesterday said they will buy US$3 million in milling equipment, and the total cost of the facility was expected to be $10 million. …
Rann Reuy, P. 7
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012053156500/Business/canadia-bank-backs-a-rice-mill-in-takeo.html
Loran Import-Export Co Ltd, Cambodia’s largest milled-rice exporter, is scheduled to start construction on a new rice mill this month worth more than US$2 million, according to the company’s General Director Lim Bunheng.
The mill will help reduce the flow of Cambodia’s paddy rice into neighbouring countries for processing and push the country closer to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s goal of exporting 1 million tonnes of milled rice by 2015, he said. …
Sieam Bunthy, P. 9
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050756008/Business/loran-imex-to-launch-2m-rice-mill-in-2013.html
A Chinese company from Yunnan province will invest $100 million to build a rice mill and processing plant in Cambodia with a local firm and export 200,000 tons of milled rice to China beginning this year, officials said yesterday.
The Yunnan Pan-Asia Agricultural Cooperation and Development Company Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia’s Soma Group Company Ltd to build the rice mill and export the finished product during a meeting Friday between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and a delegation of investors from Yunnan province, Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha said. …
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
CAVFOOD, a joint venture between Cambodian and Vietnamese companies, launched the first phase of its US$8 million rice mill in Phnom Penh on Friday.
The venture is an investment by Cambodian state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and Vietnam’s VNA Food 2 and Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC). …
Sieam Bunthy, P. 11
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040255363/Business/cambodia-vietnam-jv-targets-rice-exports.html
A Japan energy company yesterday said it planned to build a rice mill fuelled by rice husks in Cambodia’s Takeo province.
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kingdom’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) confirming cooperation on the mill powered by renewable energy…
Sieam Bunthy, p.7
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112352913/Business/renewable-energy-to-power-takeo-milling-plant.html
Vietnamese rice exporters will face tough competition from foreign countries looking to exploit advantages that Cambodia presents as a beneficiary of the the EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative, says an Econet report. Under the EBA, Cambodia, as a least-developed-country, enjoys zero tariffs and no quotas for exporting its farm produce, especially rice, to the EU…The plan to build a modern rice mill near Phnom Penh announced by a Viet Nam-Cambodia joint venture nearly two years ago has made no progress. Complicated formalities have been blamed for the delays in building a plant that aimed to process rice for export supplied by Cambodian farmers.
Cambodia-Viet Nam Foods Co (Cavifoods) – a joint venture between Viet Nam’s Southern Food Corp (Vinafood II) and two Cambodian firms – International Development Co (IDCC) and Green Trade Co, was established in October 2009 with a registered capital of US$8 million.
http://vietnambusiness.asia/rice-exports-face-challenges-from-foreigners-in-cambodia
