PHNOM PENH, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 168,280 tons of milled rice to China in the first half of 2022, up 17.4 percent over the same period last year, said an official report on Monday.

China remained the largest buyer of Cambodian rice during the January-June period this year, said the report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, adding that the export to China accounted for 51.4 percent of the country's total exports of the commodity.

Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF)'s president Song Saran said China is a huge market for Cambodian rice and the kingdom is expected to export more rice to China after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal took effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

"The RCEP will further ease trade in goods between Cambodia and China as well as other participating countries," he told Xinhua. "This mega-regional trade pact provides a larger market access for Cambodia's products, and I think it will attract more foreign investors to invest in various sectors, including in the rice industry, in order to export finished products to those RCEP countries, with tariff concessions."

Saran, who is also chief executive officer of Amru Rice (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., said currently, his company exports milled rice mainly to China, Singapore and Australia.

According to the report, the Southeast Asian country exported a total of 327,200 tons of milled rice to 51 countries and regions around the world during the first half of this year, up 16.6 percent year on year.

Of that, some 98,624 tons were shipped to the European market, up 47 percent, the report said.