Hyundai Agro, a South Korean based company, announced on Wednesday that it will begin the official export for the first consignment of Cambodian fresh mangoes to its home country market next week.
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Chang-Hoon Lee, managing director of Hyundai Agro, told Khmer Times that his company will send both yellow and green mangos weighing between 5 to 20 tonnes every day to the market from 15 January onwards.
The Cambodian mangoes will be exported belong to the variety Keo Romeat.
He said now many Korean supermarkets are waiting for the Cambodian fruit. “However, we are approaching very carefully because there are not only Cambodia mangoes, but also seven nations’ mangoes that have been distributed in Korean markets. First impression are very important,” he emphasised.
To reach the market, according to Mr Chang, the company will send the fruit via air and ship.
It is my big concern that Cambodia logistic fees are very high when comparing to others. “But we have already negotiated with an air transportation company with a strategic fee to get in the market, and I am very satisfied with that fee that could be competitive with other nations,” he added.
The company’s signed contracts with 23 farmers in Kampong Speu and Kapot, and through the scheme allows to first collect 3,800 tonnes of fresh mangoes from them.
“We will send mangoes to Korea with from our own farm and through contracted farming, because we have to send every day volumes, so we need many farms to boost our supply,” he pointed out.
Hyundai Agro’s three-hectare fruit processing facility opened in December last year. The Korean firm teamed up with local mango producer Mao Legacy to plant mangoes on 2,400 hectares in Kampong Speu province.
Mr Chan said that the company is now looking to grow dragon fruits and add a vegetable business in addition to exporting mangoes to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF), said that mangoes have the potential to reach out to more markets on a large scale if an investment is injected to build sterilisation facilities and processing factories.
Ngin Chhay, director-general of the general directorate of agriculture at MAFF, said that mangoes will become one of the main agricultural products for export as the government works to explore the world’s second-largest economy, China, as an export venue.
“Many other Chinese companies from Hunan and Hainan provinces intend to invest in building sterilisation factories in Cambodia for the export of mangoes to China,” he said.
“We hope private investment companies will build the sterilising factories, with a capacity of about 1,000 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes per day for export,” he added.
Chhay said Chinese experts will come to conduct inspection visits to mango farms in Cambodia before giving the green light to Cambodia to export the fruit to China.
“China said mangoes from Cambodia can be exported to China after a final inspection is made showing positive improvements in what was recommended, he explained.
Last year, Cambodia exported 58,162 or 16 tonnes of fresh mangoes to foreign markets, most of them shipped to Thailand and Vietnam.
