At least three Chinese companies are investing in industrial steaming equipment to use in the phytosanitary treatment of agricultural products for export, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon told The Post on Monday.
This comes in response to the Chinese government’s June 9 official approval of the export of 500,000 tonnes of Cambodian fresh mangoes per year to the country.
Sakhon said Hun Ty Co Ltd opted for building an industrial steam cleaner for pest control instead of the hot-water variety.
He said: “According to a statement from the Chinese, three Chinese companies are in the process of setting up facilities that employ steam treatments to sterilise their crops and exterminate pests, specifically the fly larvae found in mangoes.
Ke Monthivuth, the director of the ministry’s Department of Plant Protection and Phytosanitary Office, told The Post on October 6 that as of September, the General Directorate of Agriculture had received applications from 23 companies to build mango-pest control facilities, he said.
To export mangoes to China, he said, Cambodian companies must register their farms and packaging locations with the general directorate and must be recognised by officials from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC).
Cambodia exported $44.57 million worth of mango products last year, including fresh and dried mango, mango syrup and pickled mango, data from the general directorate show.
The Kingdom has 124,319ha of mango plantations, of which 91,398ha are harvested with an average yield of 15.85 tonnes per hectare per season.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/chinese-firms-invest-mango-pest-control