Fast and easy informal rice exports are causing Cambodia to lose millions in potential revenue

By Raksmey Phen and Sithav An
Economics Today

Huge transport trucks weighted down with Cambodian rice paddy rolling through to the border, where Vietnamese middlemen are eagerly waiting to buy up the bounty. For Cambodians who live near the Bontay Chakrey border crosssing in Prey Veng province, this is a familiar sight during rice harvest and it’s a scene that’s repeated over and over again at border crossings in Battambang, Bantey Meanchey and Svay Rieng provinces.
Prey Veng rice farmer March Khun says she would rather not see so much of Cambodia’s rice paddy cross the border, but she and other rice farmers don’t feel they have any other choice. After harvest, rice farmers are in a hurry to repay loans and Vietnamese traders offer higher prices for their paddy than rice millers in Cambodia do, she said.

Volume of informal exports is anyone’s guess
It’s impossible to say with any certainty how much paddy is ex-ported from Cambodia each year. A significant portion of rice paddy ex-ports go unrecorded and even when it is tracked, border officials have no means of measuring the paddy. They simply make their best guess after a cursory inspection of trucks laden with paddy. more…