Cambodian, Chinese firms sign cassava purchase co-op agreement

 PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The China National Food Industry (Group) Corp and the Cambodia-registered Le Ye Rubber Co. on Sunday signed a cassava purchase cooperation deal.
   The agreement was signed between Cai Yongfeng, the president of China National Food Industry Group, and Gao Hong  Zhi, Chief Executive Officer of Le Ye Rubber Co.
   Through the agreement, the Le Ye Rubber Co. will be in charge of buying tapioca chips from Cambodian farmers and selling them to the China National Food Industry (Group) Corp, Cai Yongfeng, said after the signing ceremony.
   “If the quality of Cambodian cassava chips is standard enough for Chinese market, we will purchase up to one million tons of dried cassava chips a year from Cambodia,” he said, adding that the purchase can be started from the end of this year.
   Currently, China needs more than 8 million tons of tapioca chips per year. Of the amount, 6.5 million tons are purchased from Thailand and the rest from Vietnam, he said.
   “For Cambodia, there is no any export of cassava to China so far,” he said. “I believe that through the deal, it will be the starting point of the cassava exports from Cambodia to China.”
   Chinese companies have begun to look into Cambodia’s cassava since Cambodia and China had signed cassava export agreement in last December last year in order to enable the exports of Cambodian cassava to China.
   Kith Seng, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government of Cambodia fully supported the agreement between the two companies.
   “It’s a good step toward the development of cassava crop in Cambodia and the two companies’ cooperation agreement will make Cambodian farmers feel no concern about the market for their cassava product,” he said during witnessing the signing ceremony.
   “The agreement also helps to boost Cambodian agriculture and to develop Cambodian economy,” he added.
   According to the report from the ministry of agriculture, in last year’s harvest season, the country yielded 3.78 million tons of cassava.