Bangladesh keen on annual rice deals

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that Bangladesh had offered to buy 200,000 tonnes of rice a year and that talks were resuming on exporting grain to Guinea. Speaking at a university graduation ceremony in the capital, Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said talks were also continuing with the Philippines and Malaysia over rice exports.
"I agreed to sell rice and send experts to Guinea but it was stopped by the coup d'etat there," Hun Sen said. "Now we want to resume." The West African state held elections in November after almost two years of military rule and a government is being put in place. Cambodia has offered to sell 100,000 tonnes of rice a year to the Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, but no deal has been reached yet. Thon Virak, director general of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade, told Reuters the government had asked him to prepare for further talks with Bangladesh.