Cambodia has yet to export mangoes to South Korea despite signing a memorandum of understanding in 2015 with the East Asian country’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, according to a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Hean Vanhan, director-general of the general directorate of agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, told Khmer Times yesterday that Cambodia did not have vapour heat treatment facilities to sterilise mango fruits for export.
Because of this, said Mr Vanhan, Cambodia could not export mangoes to South Korea as the kingdom failed to meet Korean phytosanitary import requirements.
“When importing tropical fresh fruit such as mango, papaya, mangosteen and lychee for consumption purposes the fruit is checked for quarantine pests such as the fruit fly, as per the quarantine laws of South Korea,” said Mr Vanhan.
“As per this law, any fruit that has undergone the process of vapour heat treatment is eligible for import in South Korea, as this process sterilises the pests without the use of chemicals in an environmentally friendly way,” he added.
Mr Vanhan said Cambodia wanted the private sector to invest in the fresh fruit processing industry so that the country could export products like mangoes overseas.
“The government’s job is to pave the way and seek markets for the private sector. However, it is time for the private sector to invest and cooperate with South Korea.
“Currently, we are lacking vapour heat and hot water treatment facilities which are demanded by South Korea’s quarantine services before we can export to the country,” he added.
“Cambodia signed an MoU in 2015 with South Korea’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency to develop a plan to export mangos to South Korea. Two years later, we still can’t export mangoes there.”
Source: khmertimeskh.com
