Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Cambodian Ministry of Commerce and relevantagencies have reviewed a study on rice export cost in a bid to enhance thecompetitiveness of the country’s rice export.

Secretary of State at Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce Sok Sopheak chaired the discussionwith representatives from the Cambodia Agriculture Value Chain Programme(CAVAC) and Cambodia Rice Federation on May 13.

The project on Cambodian rice production and export cost study was proposed bythe Ministry of Commerce with technical and financial support from the CAVAC.

It is aimed to identify and eliminate challenges as well as explore thepossibility of strengthening the current competitiveness of the Cambodian ricesector.

The study particularly focused on the sector’s competitiveness by analysing thevalue chain of the sector to target European countries and other nations.

At the event, Sopheak called on relevant agencies to join hands to tackleperennial challenges on electricity prices and high transport costs, thereby boostingthe country’s rice export in the coming time.

In the first four months of this year, Cambodia exported 300,252 tonnes of riceto foreign markets, a year-on-year surge of 48 percent./.