PHNOM PENH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had exported 38,400 tons of milled rice in the first quarter of this year, a 49 percent increase from 25,800 tons it exported in the same period last year, showed the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.
The reports showed that from January to March this year, the country earned total revenues of 27 million U.S. dollars from the rice exports, up 80 percent from 15 million U.S. dollars a year earlier.
Preap Visarto, vice-director of the Crop Protection and Proto- Sanitary Department at the Agriculture Ministry, said Thursday that Cambodian milled rice has been exported mainly to European markets and the United States, South Korea and Japan.
"Also, early this year, a private company began its first shipment of 48 tons of milled rice to China for market testing," he said. "We hope we will be able to export more to Chinese market this year."
Cambodia is an agrarian country. More than 80 percent of the population are farmers. The country produced some 8.25 million tons of paddy rice last year. Thus it's estimated that there is around 4 million tons of paddy rice left over for exports this year.
In August 2010, the government launched the rice export promotion strategy, aiming at exporting one million tons of milled rice by 2015.
However, the country can export only a small amount of its milled rice due to the lack of sophisticated post-harvest technology and capital.
It's estimated that Cambodia needs roughly 350 million U.S. dollars' investment in hi-tech post-harvest technology to achieve its self-imposed target of one-million-ton rice exports by 2015.
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