A DELEGATION of rice dealers is set to visit Indonesia, following comments from the country’s ambassador that it is considering importing 300,000 tonnes of the grain from Cambodia.

“We will officially visit Indonesia to talk with Indonesian government representatives and traders about rice exports,” Lim Bun Heng, director of Loran Import-Export Co, said yesterday.

The delegation – composed of at least 10 industry representatives – would make the trip after the Water Festival, he said.  

Loran could export a maximum of 5,000 tonnes of rice a month at present, while Indonesia needed a lot of rice to help victims of the recent volcanic eruption and Tsunami which have hit the island nation, according to Lim Bun Heng.

Phou Puy, president of the Federation of Cambodia Rice Millers Associations, confirmed yesterday that Indonesia had called for imports of up to 300,000 tonnes.

“We are in negotiations with each other on price and schedules for export. We are trying to export more and more,” he said. Last week, Indonesia’s ambassador to Cambodia, Soehardjono Sastromihardjo, told The Post the nation needed 20 million tonnes of rice every year to supply its population.

Local firms are also looking to new markets, with Golden Rice targetting 50,000 tonnes of rice to Europe, the United States, and Asia next year. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHUN SOPHAL