To capitalise on a rising demand for pork, a state-owned Chinese company is pouring $200 million into ruling party senator and tycoon Mong Reththy’s pig farm in Preah Sihanouk province.

“We signed since Thursday for a joint venture on expansion of pig raising in Cambodia. They will invest $200 million with us but they will give the money step by step. Our project will start in early 2014,” Reththy said yesterday.

He would not disclose the name of the investor, but said it was “a state-owned company” in China from Guangdong province.

Reththy owns M’s Pig ACMC (Cambodia) Co Ltd, which started as a joint venture in 2009 between Mong Reththy Group and Britain-based ACMC Limited. Under the deal, ACMC invested $5 million, took nine per cent of the venture, and helped Reththy import pigs from the UK.

The government has set a daily import ceiling of 800 pigs, but many are brought in illegally.

“If they have a lot of money on the investment, that’s good for our pig industry because we normally import from our neighbours to meet demand,” said Srun Pov, president of the Cambodia Pig Association.