Despite the fact that it has been nearly a year since the Cambodian government signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea to put Cambodian mangoes on the shelves of supermarkets in Seoul, local producers say there has been little sign of any movement.
According to In Chayvan, president of the Kampong Speu Mango Association, the potentially lucrative trade agreement signed last December has stalled on South Korea’s stringent sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations, which local producers are unable to comply with.
“Firstly, we are farmers, so we were happy to hear that the government had inked this agreement, but when we later found out about South Korea’s requirements, we lost hope,” he said yesterday.
According to Chayvan, Cambodia’s top-tiered keo romeat mangoes currently fetch between 1,000 and 2,000 riel per kilo here, but could sell for considerably more if shipped to South Korea. Yet it could be several years before Cambodia has a processing plant that can treat the mangoes with heated water, bringing bacteria counts to within acceptable levels.
Chayvan said Cambodian mango growers would be better off focusing their efforts on securing export contracts for China, and upping shipments to the Thai and Vietnamese markets. He said these countries have less stringent SPS regulations, while Thailand and Vietnam are ready to bend the rules on SPS and certificates of origin when their domestic production is insufficient to meet demand.
Cambodian farmers cultivate mangoes on nearly 100,000 hectares, with a dry season harvest taking place in March and April, and a smaller rainy season harvest in October and November. Over 9,000 tonnes of mangoes were exported in 2015, the majority shipped to Vietnam.
According to Chayvan, many of the mangoes sent to Vietnam are re-exported to China and other markets.
(1 Cambodian Riel= 0.0002 USD)
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