Agriculture & Economy: Cambodia's fragrant rice on show at SIAL in Paris

Twelve Cambodian rice exporters, with the support of the Cambodian Rice Federation, exhibited the best varieties of Cambodian rice, including Pka Romduol and Sen Kra-ob, which have won numerous international awards, at the Salon International de l'Alimentation (SIAL) in Paris, France, from 19 to 23 October 2024.

SIAL Paris is an international food exhibition held every two years, specialising in the food processing industry

This year's SIAL Paris exhibition features more than 7,500 stands from different regions, including Asia, Europe, America and Africa, with an estimated 285,000 attendees.This is the second time that the FIU has participated in this event. The first time was in 2014.

“The aim of participating in this international food fair is to support the Royal Government's policy on market diversification, standards, food safety, rice seed varieties and rice cultivation in Cambodia,” said the Federation.

This participation is supported by Khmer Enterprise, the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation and USAID Cambodia as part of the Feed the Future Cambodia Harvest III programme.

The European Union remains Cambodia's largest market for processed rice. In the first three quarters of 2024, the Kingdom exported 228,731 tonnes of milled rice to the EU, accounting for 51% of total exports (445,913 tonnes).

Cambodia earned USD 335 million from the export of milled rice and USD 1 billion from the export of paddy rice over the same period.

The Federation has set up a plan to promote Cambodian fragrant rice in European countries in order to raise awareness of the quality of the Kingdom's milled rice. It plans to encourage rice exporters to take part in exhibitions in EU countries such as France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and others, in order to promote direct sales to customers.

AKP