Cambodia could achieve its ambition to become one of the world's leading milled rice exporters by 2008 if it has sufficient capital to buy unmilled rice from local farmers, local media reported Friday.

Cambodian local mills currently require 40 million U.S. dollars in capital to purchase unmilled rice from farmers to raise stocks for production of milled rice, the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper quoted Pu Puy, president of the Rice Milling Association of Cambodia, as saying.

Cambodian farmers annually export more than one million tons of unmilled rice, particularly to neighboring Vietnam and Thailand, Pu Puy added.