While some Asian nations are not happy with any possible creation of Organization of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC) blaming on the pressure on expected higher price of rice, Cambodia’s Prime Minister said yesterday at an Awarding Ceremony for graduated students in Phnom Penh that the OREC is to create to increase the supply of rice in the world market. Currently, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar share a big market share in world rice market.

Cambodia used to export rice for any emergent cases like Tsunamie and nowadays, it is still continuing export rice to countries in the world while some Asian exporting nations have posed measures to restrict rice export. Due to its agricultural potential and geographical areas, Cambodia along with other ASEAN nations would well become a food/rice stock center for the Asian region and the world. The idea of this center has made an initiative idea to form a group of countries to jointly work on the rice supply. Samdech Hun Sen who initiated the idea of rice exporting nation association got support from other former four Prime Ministers since 2005. Noteworthy is that during that time and before the presence of concerns over rise in rice price, there was not objection to the idea of formation of rice association. The objection has been made just after the Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundarevej proposed a creation of OREC.

However, this is just a proposed idea and the realities and functions of the OREC are not sure yet as there is a need for founding country members to meet and talk in detail. But the rice organization will probably encourage country members and others to increase its rice production and supply. As at the present time, Cambodia has announced that it will be able to export around 8 million tons of rice by 2015 while Thailand affirmed that it will not reduce its rice export to the world market.

To Cambodia’s point of view, Cambodia prefers to produce rice to feed people. It will expand land fields and increase rice productivity rather than to use land areas to plant for bio-fuel which is used to feed machines, cars, etc.

High rise of rice price is due to the increase in bio-fuel production in USA and other parts of the world. Land fields for rice production is cut down and replaced by plants for bio-fuel production, which increase demand in fertilizer. The higher demand of the fertilizer has contributed to higher rice price, while there were famines and/or strong demand of rice in many countries.

By IM SOKTHY