Chinese Firm Eyes Cassava Sector, Plans 1M-Tonne Purchase

PHNOM PENH, Mar. 26, 2026 (KPT) – A Chinese state-owned enterprise is seeking to buy about one million tonnes of Cambodian cassava and set up a domestic processing plant to feed international supply chains, officials said Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, who also serves as First Vice Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), met with a delegation from Guangxi State Farms Mingyang Starch Development led by Chairman Chen Mingyu to discuss the investment.

The company said it was exploring cooperation with the Royal Academy of Cambodia to share advanced cultivation methods and processing technologies with local farmers.

Chanthol welcomed the plan, calling cassava processing “the backbone” of Cambodia’s value-added agriculture strategy, and said the project would create jobs and boost competitiveness. He highlighted Cambodia’s position at the heart of the Greater Mekong Subregion and ASEAN-China economic zone as favorable for by investors.

He also briefed the delegation on the government’s Comprehensive Intermodal Transport and Logistics Master Plan, designed to cut costs and speed up exports, and praised progress under the Cambodia-China “Diamond Hexagon Cooperation” framework.

Chanthol reaffirmed CDC’s readiness to coordinate and support the project, describing it as another milestone in Cambodia-China inter-governmental cooperation.