Platts to discontinue weekly Cambodian white rice assessments Apr 9

S&P Global Platts has decided to discontinue all four weekly Cambodian long grain white rice export assessments, effective April 9, 2020 due to a significant decline in export volumes since 2019.

Trade in the Cambodian white rice export market has become increasingly illiquid in recent months, due to the re-introduction in January 2019 of long-grain import tariffs by the EU, a major market for Cambodian long-grain, white rice. In addition, relatively high production costs in Cambodia compared with other Asian rice-exporting countries, have further eroded the country's competitiveness on the international market.

This has been exacerbated more recently by the Cambodian government's decision on March 30 to ban all exports of IR 504 paddy and white rice exports as of April 5, 2020 until further notice to ensure food security during the coronavirus pandemic. IR 504 is the specification currently assessed by Platts.

Cambodia is a relatively small rice exporter, typically ranking as the sixth or seventh largest Asian exporting nation, with 1.39 million mt (milled equivalent) sold in 2019 out of a global trade of about 44 million mt, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Platts estimates that standard white rice may account for less than 20% of this 1.39 million mt, with the rest of this volume comprised of premium white rice and fragrant rice.

The discontinuation affects the following:

Assessment name - Code

Cambodia Long Grain White Rice 5% Broken (FOB FCL) - LREBB00

Cambodia Long Grain White Rice 10% Broken white rice (FOB FCL) - LRECA00

Cambodia Long Grain White Rice 25% Broken white rice (FOB FCL) - LREDE00

Cambodia Long Grain White Rice A1 Super 100% Broken (FOB FCL) - LREEC00

These prices were previously published in the Platts Rice Weekly, also known as the LRI Weekly Report, and in the Platts price database under the codes above.

Platts will continues to assess the Cambodian fragrant rice market, and will continue to publish the following weekly non-white rice assessments, which will not be affected by the discontinuation:

Assessment name - Code

Cambodia Long Grain Fragrant Rice Phka Malis 5% Broken STX FOB FCL - LREFB00

Cambodia Long Grain Fragrant Rice Sen Kra Ob 5% Broken STX FOB FCL - LREGB00

Cambodia Long Grain Fragrant Rice 100% Broken A1 Super FOB FCL - LREHC00

Please send any feedback, comments or questions to europe_ags@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available to the public upon request.