Phnom Penh, Cambodia – It was a moment of great importance for Cambodian Rice as Cambodian Premium Fragrant Rice was awarded the ‘World’s Best Rice’ Award for the second straight year in a row at the global rice tasting competition during the World Rice Conference (WRC) organized by The Rice Trader (TRT) in Hong Kong, China from November 19-21, 2013.

The ‘World Best Rice’ is decided by a panel of judges, led by Celebrity Chef Taro Arai and executive chefs at the Langham Place Hotel in Hong Kong. Chef Taro Arai stated in summary of this event that “The level of competition for the 2013 conference was amazing and it was very difficult to choose the best rice in the world. The winners were greatly deserving of this honour and the title bestowed to them.”

For the first time in the contest’s history, it was announced that there was a tie for the winner of the rice tasting competition. In this three-way tie, two were originating from Cambodia and one originating from California, USA. The judges finally selected Cambodian Jasmine Rice to be the 2013 ‘World’s best rice’ winner.

With ‘Together We Promote Cambodian Rice’ as its slogan, the Cambodian team could not have won this “World’s Best Rice” award without all the players that produced this winning rice, the entire value chain of the rice sector, especially the local growers who cultivated this rice.

Cambodia owes its victory to its rice for being not only being tasty but also natural, green and healthy. This second year win in a row, 2012 and 2013, will help raise Cambodian rice’s status to greater world recognition, leading to a boost in demand for the best rice on the global market and attracting an increased number of international buyers.

The TRT’s World Rice Conference is the annual gathering of rice industry professionals, with a conference agenda that aimed to map the future direction for rice markets, and how price trends will be shaped. TRT-WRC 2013 was the largest gathering of rice professionals in the region, attracting over 500 delegates from all over the world and featuring expert speakers who guided delegates towards a vision of markets in 2013/14 and beyond.  A delegation of 43 Cambodian Rice Exporters (26 companies) participated in the conference. The trip was facilitated by the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters (FCRE) with technical and financial support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Cambodia. The participation of the two FCRE staff was made possible through the contribution from the SNEC/AFD rice sector commercialisation project.