{"id":10156,"date":"2021-12-22T08:41:31","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cityrice.com\/?post_type=news_activities&p=10156"},"modified":"2021-12-22T08:50:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:50:11","slug":"leader-talks-andy-lay-ceo-president-of-city-rice","status":"publish","type":"news_activities","link":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/news_activities\/leader-talks-andy-lay-ceo-president-of-city-rice\/","title":{"rendered":"Leader Talks: Andy Lay, CEO & President of City Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cambodia Investment Review Leader Talks\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>had an exclusive interview with the CEO of City Rice Import Export and the Cambodia Rice Federation\u2019s Vice President, Mr. Andy Lay.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Andy shared his company\u2019s record forecast of over 100,000 metric tonnes of rice exports, his experiences of dealing with drought and floods, and his $15 million-dollar investment in the business.<\/p>\n

City Rice Import Export Co., Ltd was launched in 2012 by Andy who carried on his parent\u2019s rice mill business named Lay Se Rice Mill that was established in 1996 at Thmorkol District, Battambang province.<\/p>\n

A record-breaking amount of annual exports in 2020 for City Rice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since then, the company has had tremendous growth, going from one of the smallest exporters with approximately only 12 containers per year to becoming Cambodia\u2019s top rice exporter in 2020, breaking the all-time export record of over 100,000 mT.<\/p>\n

However, the recent rice safeguard measures by the European Union as well as the COVID pandemic have proven a tough time for the rice sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked twice as hard than others to grow from one of the smallest exporters (ranked number 50th) exporting about 12 containers per year to become the number one in 2020,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

The total volume of Cambodia\u2019s milled-rice export in the first semester of 2021 was\u00a0280,450 mT\u00a0<\/a>dropping 29.47% compared to the same period in 2020. This drop was attributed to the lack of available shipping containers and the overall increase in freight costs.<\/p>\n

Despite these challenges, City Rice alone accounted for 52,528 mT or 18.72% of total Cambodian rice export in the first six months of 2021. \u201cOur vision is to have Cambodia\u2019s premium fragrant rice in all markets around the globe,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

The company is forecasting total milled rice exports, this year, to be over 100,000 mT. \u201c90,500 metric tonnes had been exported by November 2021, no exporters have exported this much in a single year before in Cambodia rice export history,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

In addition, City Rice is committed to continuing to increase its overall\u00a0export volume<\/a>\u00a0and expand into different markets for the premium rice sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to export 250,000 metric tonnes per year or 25% of Prime Minister Hun Sen\u2019s goal of One million metric tonnes by 2026,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cambodian Fragrant Rice<\/em>\u00a0or Sen Kro Oub is considered one of the most beautiful types of\u00a0rice<\/em>\u00a0in the world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inclusive benefits for all stakeholders amid tough times<\/strong>, says Andy Lay<\/h3>\n

Amid the effects of the flood on rice crops and cash flow in the rice sector during the harvest season, City Rice has been putting effort to ensure inclusive benefits for all stakeholders supported with funds from the Ministry of Finance under the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the rice business, cash flow is the main obstacle in collecting paddy on time during harvesting seasons which we are really thankful for this support and hope the government is continuing to assist with the special loan to purchase the paddy from farmers until we can stand on our own feet,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

City Rice has bought approximately 120,000 mT of fresh paddy in 2020 and the amount has increased by almost 50% more in 2021 (around 160,000 mT).<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0Asian Development Outlook report<\/a>, issued in April 2021, agricultural production increased by only 0.5% due to flash floods in October that hit crop production.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, there are always either floods or drought in Battambang Province. But there is a saying, flooding is bad but always better than drought for rice farmers and millers.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Rice mainly purchased the paddy from two main Provinces such as Battambang and Banteay Meanchey Province. There are provinces including Siem Reap, Kompong Thom, and Pursat, from which City Rice buys the paddy during the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe at times have paddy shortage to purchase and we must find alternative provinces to source the best paddy if this happens,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

To ensure the best quality of rice and profits for the farmers, City Rice offers premium prices to farmers as a monetary motivation to grow for the best quality paddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work hard with all stakeholders from farmers, paddy collectors, bankers, traders to end buyers to find win-win situations for everyone\u201d Andy added.<\/p>\n

In addition, to contribute partly to the current concerns of global warming, thousands of metric tonnes of rice husk are supplied to an energy-generating company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe limited the waste and utilized the resources to the maximum level,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
City Rice<\/em>\u00a0is one of the biggest manufacturers of Cambodian\u00a0rice<\/em>\u00a0with its manufacturing based in Battambang\u00a0City<\/em>, Cambodia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Millions of dollars invested into City Rice as agro-exports increase<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In preparation for the upcoming industry 4.0 evolution, City Rice has invested millions of dollars every year into integrating their machines and capacity expansion from drying and testing the paddy to milling and packaging the finished product.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have invested, so far, over $15 million on our Battambang facility with the state-of-the-art drying, milling, and reprocessing plants and warehouses,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the company plans to work on The\u00a0<\/strong>British Retail Consortium (BRC) Food Safety Standard, which is the leading trade body for UK retailers, in addition to current certified standards such as GHP and HACCP.<\/p>\n

Rice remains Cambodia\u2019s major crop, and value-added of crop production accounted for 57.4% of the country\u2019s agricultural GDP in 2020.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, Cambodia exported 29,415 mT of milled rice worth $21.18 million, an increase of 3.53% compared to the volume exported in July 2020, stated in the Cambodia Rice Federation\u00a0report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The same\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0also stated that the export of 36.21% to the European Union, 36.13% to China and its autonomous region, 7.88% to the ASEAN market, and 19.79% to 22 other market destinations such as Gabon, Australia, UK, New Zealand. Etc.<\/p>\n

Overall,<\/a>\u00a0the exports of milled rice for the 7 months of 2021 are 309,865 mT to $223.85 million.<\/p>\n

Agriculture is also expected to pick up, growing by 1.3% in 2021 and 1.2% in 2022, underpinned by higher crop production after last year\u2019s flood damage, continued aquaculture growth, and rising agriculture exports to the People\u2019s Republic of China from a new bilateral free trade agreement, according to\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by ADB in April 2021.<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/cambodiainvestmentreview.com\/2021\/12\/14\/leader-talks-andy-lay-ceo-president-of-city-rice\/<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cambodia Investment Review Leader Talks\u00a0had an exclusive interview with the CEO of City Rice Import Export and the Cambodia Rice Federation\u2019s Vice President, Mr. Andy Lay. In the interview, Andy shared his company\u2019s record forecast of over 100,000 metric tonnes of rice exports, his experiences of dealing with drought and floods, and his $15 million-dollar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10157,"template":"","class_list":["post-10156","news_activities","type-news_activities","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_activities\/10156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_activities"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news_activities"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrice.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}