The owner of a rice production company in Laos expressed her interest in exporting rice to the US next year after the recent success of Lao rice importations in European markets.
Ms. Bounhieng Phommyxay, president of Champahom Trading Import-Export Company, said her company had prepared to sign an agreement to export rice to the United States in 2023 and would begin exporting at the start of 2024.
The European Union in Laos has also shown increased interest in exporting more rice from Laos to European countries after Belgium and France successfully imported rice from Laos in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
Earlier this month, the Champahom Trading Import-Export Company exported 23 tons of plain rice and 2 tons of glutinous rice to France, marking the company’s second export of rice to the European country with a considerable Lao diaspora.
The company expects that its numerous exports would promote Lao rice as a product of international standard, particularly in the European markets.
The second export was officially shipped to France on Wednesday in the presence of Mr. Sangkhom Chansouk, President of Vientiane Industry and Commerce.
In 2022, the company signed an agreement with Wech Gros Import-Export in France, to sell 1,000 tonnes of glutinous rice (worth USD 1,200,000) each year for an unspecified number of years with the first shipment of rice, amounting to 25 tonnes, sent to France in January 2023.
