SOUTH Korean company KOGID Cambodia Co Ltd will install its first corn-drying machine in Battambang at the end of May, in a bid to increase exports.

Worth US$3 million, the machine will be able to dry 500 tonnes of corn per day. The contraption is already 90 percent complete. The business also intends to build eight silos, each capable of storing 500 tonnes of dried corn.

Oung Savuth, manager of KOGID Cambodia, told the Post Wednesday: “We hope that when its construction is completed, the plant will help increase exports of corn from Cambodia to South Korea.

“We cannot buy corn in large amount if we do not have corn-drying plants.”

Last June, the company announced that it had invested $150 million to cooperate with farmers to buy from 70,000 to 150,000 tonnes of red corn for export. The corn will be processed into animal feed.

In order to stabilise the buying and export process, the company wants to build another three drying plants in Pailin, Kandal and Kampong Cham provinces.

Phou Puy, chairman of Battambang province Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday that he was happy to see foreign companies construct corn-drying plants in Cambodia.

He added that most local farmers cannot sell their corn for a high prices at market, as they mostly produce wet and low-quality corn.

Battambang is Cambodia’s leading area for growing red corn. Last year, the province produced 531,000 tonnes of the country’s total product of 780,754 tonnes, a 68 percent share.