Hun Lak, Longmate Agriculture director, launched his packaging facility in Kampot province that will aid the export of 120 tonnes of Bananas to the Chinese market. Longmate Agriculture is a joint venture with a group of successful banana plantation companies in China, Hong Kong, and Cambodia established in late 2017.
The group is known to have a combined 20 years of experience in a banana plantation. The company's stake ownership is divided into the joint venture business. The Cambodian partners are in-charge for business operations. The foreign partners are responsible for the technicalities in the supply chain. They are in charge of overseeing the sowing of seeds, organic fertilization, the plantation, keeping plantation beds clean, and harvesting management.
The council for the Development of Cambodia approved the plantation in 2018. Mr. Hun Lak said that their investment sits on 1,000 hectares of land located in the Chhuk district, Kampot province. The capital investment for the company reached 32 million dollars. He said that they have planted yellow bananas on over 400 hectares of land and so far their plantation has run for 15 months. The director said that they expect to send 22,000 tonnes of fresh bananas to the Chinese market, and expand to 33,000 tonnes a year by 2020.
According to Mr. Hun, about 120 tonnes of fresh bananas, equivalent to six containers, have been packed at his packaging house facility in Kampot province and was loaded onto the ship on May 11 ready to be sent to China. He said that it takes 10 days to deliver the products to Dalian, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in China. The shipments pass through Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port.
Mr. Hun said that investment in bananas is new in Cambodia. He said that in the first stage they might not be able to expand too much despite the high demands. He said that they are still focusing on transportation and market supply.
China imports a large number of bananas. It imports from many countries around the globe including the ASEAN nations, African, and Latin American countries. The director believes that the quality of their bananas can compete with well-known and globally-recognized brands from Ecuador and the Philippines.
Mr. Hun said that they still have a limited harvest and they have not yet considered exporting to other markets. He said that the harvests are unable to meet the demand on the Chinese market.
