The Cambodia Rice Federation on Wednesday said the sector needed at least $200 million in capital infusion to enable rice millers to buy paddy from farmers, far higher than previous requests for assistance.
Chan Sokheang, vice president for the CRF, said the $200 million was needed as emergency capital to continue the purchase of paddy till January 2020. The rice federation official said there had been a drop in loan approvals from commercial banks, which coincided with the European Union’s imposition of tariffs on rice exports.
He did not provide additional details for why loan approvals were easing off. The rice sector was in January hit with tariffs for three years on exports to the EU, after Italy triggered protectionist measures in the ‘Everything But Arms’ trade scheme.
