A Thai ban on Cambodian corn and other agricultural products led to a 65 per cent year-on-year drop in the Kingdom’s corn exports during the first two months of the year, officials claimed yesterday.

January and February exports fell to 2,333 tonnes from 6,694 a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

“This year, the [Thai regulations] for the import of agricultural goods was very strict. It’s different from last year,” Chan Nora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday.

Export value, however, was buoyed by increased corn prices, data showed.

Corn exports in the first two months of the year were worth US$285,576, an increase of about 1 per cent on the same period last year.

The majority of Cambodia’s corn exports go to Thailand and Vietnam.

Sa Chamroeun, president of Chamroeun Company in Pailin province, said his company saw a 30 per cent decrease in corn exports to Thailand as farmers have continued to trade corn for cassava cultivation.

“Our collection of corn dropped about 30 per cent early in the year because farmers grew a lot of cassavas last year,” he said.

Reports this week from farmers in Cambodia’s northwest were mixed on cultivation trends.

 While some companies reported a continued flock to cassava despite a Thai ban on the plant, others reported the high price of corn attracting an increasing number of growers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sieam Bunthy at [email protected]