The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has published a report detailing the Kingdom’s rice exports for the first month of the year.

In January, the country exported 46,221 tonnes of milled rice and almost 600,000 tonnes of unmilled rice.

The CRF report, released on February 9, detailed how the milled rice, worth $32.62 million, was exported to 42 different destinations by 32 companies.

“Some 25,005 tonnes of milled rice worth $18.85 million was exported to 22 European nations, and 11,999 tonnes worth $8.3 million went to four ASEAN member countries and Timor-Leste, an ASEAN observer status member,” it said.

“Another 5,171 tonnes of milled rice worth $2.9 million was dispatched to Hong Kong and Macao, with the remaining 4,046 tonnes – worth $2.55 million – going to Africa, the Middle East, North America and Australia,” it added.

The nearly 600,000 tonnes of unmilled rice, worth over $184 million, was exported to neighbouring countries. 

CRF president Chan Sokheang said the booming European markets are the result of support from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as the entrepreneurial development organisation Khmer Enterprise.

Both institutions supported the CRF at the Anuga Food Fair, held in October last year in Cologne, Germany. 

However, he warned that owing to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, transport prices have risen up to 70 per cent, to their highest ever.

Sokheang said it remains to be seen how this would affect future exports, or how long the situation would persist.

“Increasing transport price have created certain problems for rice exporters. Although exports are proceeding as normal, it is possible that they may reduce in the short term. However, we are still optimistic that the Kingdom’s milled rice exports will continue to grow in 2024,” he added.