Phnom Penh: Despite the ongoing Covid-19 situation in the kingdom, food prices remain stable. This is one of the key findings in a report released by the United Nations World Food Programme in partnership with the Agriculture Marketing Office in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. It says the national average retail prices for most key food commodities have shown only small fluctuations in both rural and urban markets.

The national food price trend analysis shows that since January last year, domestic food prices have remained pretty stable. They did start to increasing last March when the pandemic first started, but then dropped again in January, just before the 20 February Community Transmission Event began. With border closures and preventative measures disrupting supply chains, most basic commodities are up compared to the same period last year. The report specifies the prices of duck eggs, snakehead fish and vegetable oil, but the price of pork and rice have dropped.

Despite the continuing impact of Covid-19, the report shows that Cambodia’s aggregate statistics of trade and agricultural production remain favorable, although ongoing preventative measures means customer traffic at markets continues to drop, especially in the capital. The World Bank has estimated that the kingdom’s GDP growth contracted by 3.1% in 2020, but is expected to grow by 4% in 2021. The Cambodian economy remains resilient.