Direct access to Chinese market to boost Cambodia's pepper sector: association chief

PHNOM PENH, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodia's pepper association chief on Friday welcomed China's approval for the kingdom's pepper to get direct access to the Chinese market, expressing confidence that farmers will greatly benefit from this move.

"This is good news for our farmers," Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association, told Xinhua.

"The direct shipment of our pepper to China will not only give a boost to our bilateral trade volume, but also contribute to promoting Cambodia's economic development as well as creating more jobs and income for our farmers," he said.

Lay said China is a huge market for Cambodia, expressing his hope that the renowned Kampot pepper, a product registered as a Geographical Indication in the European Union, will also be well-known in China in the near future.

"We hope that Chinese consumers will enjoy our aromatic and strong spicy taste of pepper," he said.

The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) on Thursday approved Cambodia's proposal to export pepper directly to China, according to a news release posted on the Facebook page of the Chinese Embassy to Cambodia.

The GACC certified 28 pepper plantations and seven packaging plants to export the commodity directly to China, the news release said.

Pepper is the first Cambodian agricultural product approved to be exported directly to China this year, and it is also the first spice crop allowed to be exported to China, it added.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said the kingdom is pleased to provide high-quality agricultural produce such as milled rice, bananas, mangoes, longans and pepper to China.

"We hope more Cambodian potential agricultural products such as durians and bird's nest will be able to export to the Chinese market in the near future," he told Xinhua.