Commerce ministry secretary of state Samheng Bora (right), chairman of the Export Promotion Task Force, inspects cashew products at a market in France. Commerce ministry
Cambodia is intensifying efforts to promote its agricultural goods in international markets such as France, where the export volume of these products remains modest.
Samheng Bora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce and chairman of the Export Promotion Task Force, led a delegation from the ministry to attend the Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) international food fair in Paris on October 19.
The event featured over 7,500 exhibition booths from various regions, including Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa, with nearly 300,000 participants.
The ministry reported that during the visit, the Cambodian delegation also held discussions with several companies to showcase the country’s products.
It stated, "This visit and discussions mainly focused on exploring partnership opportunities to promote the export of Cambodian agricultural products, especially rice, processed foods and cashew nuts, to the French market.”
Uon Silot, president of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC), told The Post on October 21 that the export of processed cashew products to European markets, including France, remains limited.
He explained that the country has yet to establish a major export market in the EU due to limited processing capacity, insufficient working capital for factories to buy and stock cashews and high production costs.
He said, "I believe that having more export markets would be great, but at the same time, local enterprises must strive to improve their production capacity and quality, as well as secure sufficient working capital."
Silot added that although there is a large cashew harvest each year, the processing and packaging standards remain low, leading to the export of tens of thousands of tonnes of unprocessed cashews annually to neighbouring countries. He noted that the export of the commodity in its raw state results in significant financial losses for Cambodia.
Nevertheless, he is optimistic that the export of processed cashews to international markets will increase.
In September, the CAC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Customs Administration to pave the way for cashew exports to China.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries show that the country currently has over 580,000 hectares of cashew plantations, with an annual harvest of more than 800,000 tonnes. In the first eight months of 2024, the country exported over 560,000 tonnes of cashew to 11 countries.
Lun Yeng, secretary-general of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), stated that France is the largest market in Europe for Cambodian rice.
He added, "On average, France purchases between 60,000 and 70,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia annually, with the majority being fragrant rice."
A CRF report noted that from January to September 2024, Cambodia exported 445,913 tonnes of rice to international markets, generating revenue of $335.4 million. Export volume decreased by 2.3% compared to the same period in 2023, but revenue increased by 2.4%.
