The soybean price will increase significantly during this year's harvest, local media reported on Monday.

Vietnam, a key market for Cambodian and Chinese soybeans, is dire need of soybeans as soybeans in Cambodia, China and Vietnam have been destroyed by natural disasters, Business Press quoted the Commerce Ministry as reporting.

According to some private sectors' forecast, the price of soybeans could climb as high as 300 U.S. dollars per metric ton during the 2006 to 2007 harvest and the price has already increased from 270 dollars per metric ton to 290 dollars over the Khmer New Year period.

Cambodia exports an average 40,000 metric tons, about 90 percent of its soybeans a year to Vietnamese markets, where people use them to make bean curd and other products. About 10 percent are sold on the local market, especially to produce soy sauce, bean curd and food for animals.

Despite the high price that the soybean is fetching on international markets, some farmers are turning to grow tapioca instead, and the amount of soybean available for the Vietnamese market will not be sufficient if most Cambodian farmers turn to tapioca.

During the past few years, more and more Cambodian farmers have turned to tapioca because tapioca-processing factories have been built in economic zones in Kompong Cham and Sihanoukville.

Source: Xinhua