Bank plans $10 million for rice investment

KHMER TIMES
SUM MANET



Cambodian Rice Bank (CRB) plans to invest about $10 million in building a rice silo and a drying kiln in Battambang province, state news agency AKP reported Thursday.

Bank chairman Phou Poy said his company would invest about $10 million in the sector this year to tackle lack of grain silos and kilns.

“This project has support from private banks and from the government because if we do not have enough drying kilns and rice warehouses, the problems in this sector cannot be solved,” he said.

CRB plans to create a farming association through contracts with farmers to make their agricultural products more valuable and of a stable market price to avoid the price depreciation through brokers, according to Mr. Poy.

He said Cambodia has about 270 mills that could produce rice of export quality.

According to a report last year, Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance sent a draft memorandum of understanding to the Chinese government seeking a loan of about $300 million to build 10 large silos, which could store a total of 1.2 million tons of paddy rice to ensure both millers and exporters could have a continuous supply.

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has been urging the government to build silos for storing paddy rice to boost rice exports.

It has also asked for help from the government to provide emergency loans to millers and exporters who are in financial doldrums due to cheaper rice flooding the market from neighboring countries.

Hun Lak, vice-president of CRF, said recently that the project to build silos was under the Ministry of Commerce, and the Chongqing Grain Group was responsible for the project study.

“Chongqing sent their representatives to do a joint study with us for the loan application from the Chinese government.”