Cambodian-owned TTY corporation will invest US$6 million in a rice milling plant in Kampong Speu province, company officials said yesterday.

Heng Sarath, TTY deputy director, said the factory would be built on national road 6, and would mill 20 tonnes of rice per year. Construction is hoped to be completed in 2013.

Equipment would be imported from Thailand and China, he said.

“If there are no obstacles, it will be in operation quickly. But this work is not easy and it will need more money,” he said.

TTY signed an agreement with China’s Sinograin in December for shipments of 200,000 tonnes of milled rice per year, the Post reported.

Phou Puy, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Associations, said the recent increase in rice-milling facilities was a positive step, but there were still concerns on the quality of Cambodian rice.

“I am concerned that there is huge growth in rice-milling machines, but the amount of quality [rice] for export is not high enough. We have to resolve this issue quickly,” he said.

Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, said yesterday that the continued construction of rice mills was needed to cut down on the amount of unmilled rice that is currently exported to neighbouring countries without value-added processing.

To contact the repoter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]