First Chinese animal feed mill in Cambodia
The first Chinese animal feed mill was officially inaugurated in Cambodia last weekend, bringing the total number of the same kind of factories in the country to five, according to the Cambodian Minister of Agriculture.
"The factory is a new achievement of good cooperation between the governments and the peoples of Cambodia and China," ag-minister Chan Sarun said during the inauguration of the Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness (Cambodia). The mill is situated in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (18 km west of central Phnom Penh).
"The mill is very important to boost the development of the country’s animal feeding industry," he said.
The minister said that currently the demand of animal feed is about 700,000 tons per year, but the four full-functioning factories can produce only 170,000 tons a year, so the rest is imported.
The Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness (Cambodia) can produce about 57,000 tons a year, which will increase the supply of animal food locally and reduces the reliance on the imports.
Jin Yuan, Economic and Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy to Cambodia, said that China is the largest investor in Cambodia with the accumulative investments of more than US$8 billion so far.
Joint venture
The Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness (Cambodia) is a joint-venture between China’s New Hope Group holding 90% stake and Japan’ s animal feed Sojitz Corporation owning the remaining stake, Deng Xiaohua, a manager of China’s New Hope Group, said at the inauguration ceremony.
"The mill has been equipped with sophisticated technologies and is capable to produce a good quality of animal food for pigs and poultry," he said.
The construction of the Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness (Cambodia) mill had been started early this year on a 33,500 square meters plot and was completed last month, costing $6 million and employing about 100 Cambodian workers.
New Hope expansions
Earlier this year New Hope Group, the parent company of Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness, announced it will expand in overseas markets by creating 15 to 20 plants in Southeast Asia, central Africa and Europe over the next five years, according to New Hope chairman Liu Yonghao.
Currently the Chinese feed giant has 12 feed processing plants in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Liu said the group will open a new feed plant in Egypt this year and will also apply to acquire a stake in PGG Wrightson, New Zealand’s biggest agricultural service company.
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