Banana investment shows high potential in Cambodia

13 May 2019 2061 | Business & Trade Fairs

Khmer Times reporter Chhut Bunthoeun sat down with Hun Lak, Longmate Agriculture director, to discuss banana investment prospects in Cambodia following his company’s recently-launched packaging facility in Kampot province, which will aid the export of 120 tonnes of bananas to the Chinese market.

KT: Could you briefly tell us about your company’s background?

Mr Hun Lak: Longmate Agriculture was established in late 2017 and it is a joint venture investment involving a group of successful banana plantation companies in China, Hong Kong and Cambodia. This group collaboration has a combined 20 years of experience with regard to banana plantation. Stake ownership is divided in the joint venture business. The Cambodian side is responsible for business operations, whereas our foreign partners are in charge over technicalities in the supply chain. To put it simply, they oversee the sowing of seeds, organic fertilization, the plantation, keeping plantation beds clean and harvesting managements.

KT: How many hectares is your banana plantation? How many tonnes of banana yields are you expecting to be harvested and exported to the Chinese market this year?

Mr Hun Lak: Our investment, which was approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia last year, sits on 1,000 hectares of land located in Chhuk district, Kampot province. The capital investment is about 32 million dollars. We have planted yellow bananas on over 400 hectares of land and so far our plantation has run for 15 months. This year, we expect to send 22,000 tonnes of fresh bananas to the Chinese market, and expand to 33,000 tonnes a year by 2020. About 120 tonnes of fresh bananas, equivalent to six containers, have been packed at our packaging house facility in Kampot province and was loaded onto the ship on May 11 ready to be sent to China. It would take about 10 days to get to the destination, namely: Dalain, Shanghai and Shenzhen cities in China. Our banana shipment to the market will pass Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port. If the Sihanoukville port is busy, we will carry through the Phnom Penh port instead.