Phnom Penh (FN), June 8 - Proparco financial institution, an alliance of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) extends $14 million loan to Golden Rice, a long-standing partner and one of Cambodia’s key premium fragrant rice millers and exporters, according to Proparco’s press release dated on Thursday.

"This loan will help Golden Rice further increase its production capacities. It will also allow the company to finance an additional 1MW of rice husk gasification for electricity production, thus encouraging innovative technology, supporting renewable energy and decreasing Golden Rice’s energy-related costs.

Created in 2009, Golden Rice is specialized in processing, milling and selling high-quality fragrant rice products, including jasmine rice. This focus on premium rice has opened new, lucrative markets for the company which now exports most of its production to European, Chinese and Malaysian markets.

This is Proparco’s third transaction with Golden Rice after an initial $7 million greenfield loan, signed in 2009, when the company was created and first became operational, and a $10 million loan in 2013 to support the company’s growth and expansion to new markets.

Golden Rice’s production received worldwide recognition between 2012 and 2014 when it received the World’s Best Rice Award, three years running. . The company is also certified, complying with international standards (ISO 9001, GMP/HACCP, Organic), and is currently developing a noteworthy Environmental and Social strategy, which is also supported by Proparco through a technical assistance facility.

This new loan was signed as Proparco celebrated its 40th anniversary in the region. Proparco’s clients and partners gathered on June 7th to recognise and further encourage the role of the private sector in achieving sustainable development outcomes.

This event concluded the Green Bonds Asia Conference which took place in Singapore. A strong supporter of the development of green bonds, Proparco recently invested $100 million in Amundi Planet Emerging Green One fund, the world’s largest green bond fund that is exclusively dedicated to emerging markets," Proparco wrote in the press release.
=FRESH NEWS