Rice Price Hike Due to Outside Forces: Expert
By Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Wa****ngton
01 April 2008
Cambodia's position between two giant rice ex****ters, combined with a
rising global demand for the staple, has played a big role in a
national rice shortage and rising prices, an economist said Monday.
The government rolled out emergency measures last week to curb the
rising price of rice, which was sparked in part by rumors of a rice
shortage.
Both Vietnam and Thailand had been buying rice from Cambodia for
further ex****t, lowering the supplies of rice and raising its domestic
price, Yong Sang Kumar, executive director of the Center of Education
and Development of Cambodia said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."
"Because Cambodia is located between the two big rice ex****t
countries, Vietnam and Thailand, and because of the increase in rice
demand in the world market, these two neighbors came to Cambodia to
buy our rice to meet their demand," he said. "So they played a role in
the rice shortage in Cambodia."
Cambodia was not the only country to deal with a rice crisis in recent
weeks. Last week, the Philippines signed a deal with Vietnam to im****t
more than a million tons of rice, and South Korea said it would have
to auction off 50,000 metric tons of government-stored rice, to
stabilize prices at home. On Monday, India announced it would limit
rice ex****ts to boost local stocks.
Kim Savuth, director of Cambodian National Mills Association, said on
"Hello VOA" Monday the government's measures had proven positive.
"In general, I notice that the price of rice has gone down a little
bit," he said. "Since Prime Minister Hun Sen's appeal last week,
people seemed to have calmed down. People who were stocking up on rice
did not come back to buy any more."
Kim Savuth urged Cambodian farmers to reserve their rice crops to
ensure that Cambodia would have enough rice to feed its population of
14 million people through the next harvest.
The Cambodian government should come up with an estimate on Cambodia's
current rice at hand, to find whether there will be a shortage into
December, Yong Sang Kumar said.
This would tell them what measures to take next, he added.
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