Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) hosted an official signing ceremony on the phytosanitary protocol for fresh mango exports from the Kingdom of Cambodia to the People’s Republic of China on the 9th of June, 2020. Mango is the second fresh fruit to gain official access to the Chinese market after yellow banana, which the protocol was signed in August of last year. Other agricultural products that can be exported from Cambodia to China include milled rice and dried cassava chips.
As a next step after signing the protocol, the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) under the MAFF will conduct field audits and inspections to registered mango farms and packaging establishments. A report will be compiled and shared with its Chinese counterpart. It will serve as a basis for the final assessment of official export eligibility. So far 20 companies, with a total growing area of about 21,286 hectares, have requested the GDA to register their mango farms and packaging houses to officially export Cambodian mangoes to China. Cambodia expects to export 500,000 tonnes of mangoes per year to China.
After mangoes, Cambodia is looking to work together with their Chinese partners to clear further commodities, such as pepper, longan, pomelo, durian and bird’s nest for the export to China.
Together with its partners at the GDA, the “Support of Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia (SRECA)” project compiled guidelines for the export of mangoes to China in 2018 to support Cambodian businesses and the negotiation processes with China. SRECA is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The guidelines are currently being updated to continue supporting local small and medium enterprises in utilising the export opportunities to the biggest regional market. Guidelines for the export of bananas and logans from Cambodia to China are also being updated.