A surplus in rice production has led rice prices to fall to 320,000 riel a ton from 330,000 riel, according to Reuters.
“The price of our paddy is getting lower and lower because we’re getting a lot more coming from farmers,” Tes Eda, the director of the Commerce Ministry’s food department told Reuters. He said the price should drop further, despite increased buying from Vietnamese traders.
Chan Tong Yves, secretary of state for the Ministry of Agriculture said the surplus is up to 230,000 tons. As the prices go down, Vietnamese exports are expected to increase from 100 tons a day to 200 tons a day, Tes Eda was quoted as saying.
A Battambang province farmer who identified himself as Soeun said the reduction might be due to an increase in checkpoint taxes at the Thai-Cambodian border. “Thai dealers want to export rice from Cambodia, but Cambodian dealers dare not sell their harvest because the checkpoints are taking higher taxes,” he said.
