| Agriculture plays a very important role in Cambodia’s economic development, accounting for 35 percent of total GDP. Rice is the main product and source of employment and income for many people in rural area. Given its recent, significant progress in exporting rice, The Royal Government of Cambodia aims to export 1 million tons of milled rice in 2015. The aims of this thesis are to find out the current situation of rice export in Cambodia, and compare it with two other major rice exporting countries, Thailand and Vietnam. The next step will be to examine government’s policies in promoting rice export and Cambodia’s comparative advantage by using Revealed Comparative Advantage index.Trade statistics from United Nations Commodity Trade database were analyzed in order to find out Revealed Comparative Advantage of Cambodia’s rice export in comparison with Thailand and Vietnam. Moreover, rice export statistics from each country were also used to analyze competiveness by studying export market, type of rice exported, and price.The result shows that Cambodia has very high RCA index, suggesting its potential in rice export. Its RCA index even exceeds that of Thailand, and Vietnam. Moreover, based on market and price analysis, the study indicates that Cambodia might have comparative advantage in premium rice market and could be Thailand’s competitor, while losing to Vietnam in low grade market. Nevertheless, many constraints, both in production and export, still remain unsolved which could hinder Cambodia from reaching the target and becoming one of major rice exporters. |
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