Cambodia sees 20% decline in cassava export in 6 months

Cambodia had exported 226,000 tons of fresh and dry cassava in the first half of 2014, a decrease of 20 percent over the same period last year, said the figures provided by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

However, the country saw a 20-percent increase in revenue from 15 million U.S. dollars during the January-June period last year to 18 million dollars at the same period this year.

Som Yen, director of Banteay Meanchey province-based cassava broker Malai Trading Company, said the decline in the quantity of cassava, or tapioca, was due to flood devastation last year.

"But the price of cassava this year is good," he told Xinhua, adding that a ton of dry cassava was purchased from farmers at the price of 188 U.S. dollars on Thursday, up 11 percent compared with about 169 U.S. dollars at this time last year. This year, a lot of farmers have flocked to grow cassava as profit margins on the crop continue to rise," he said.

According to data issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, cassava growing covered 421,000 hectares last year, yielding some 8.42 million tons of freshly harvested cassava.

Source: globalpost.com