THE SELDAMAEX cotton-processing plant exported its first 100 tonnes of unprocessed cotton and 360 tonnes of cotton seed last month, managing director Kong Chan said last week. Based in Battambang province, it shipped 50 tonnes of unprocessed cotton to Vietnam, 40 tonnes to China and 10 tonnes to Japan, and the seed all to Vietnam. “The exports to factories in these countries are for sampling the quality of the cotton,” he said, adding a tonne of raw cotton sold for US$2,200 per tonne, while seed fetched $250. “They have said our cotton has good, acceptable quality,” he said, and the plant expects to export another 200 tonnes of raw cotton and 400 tonnes of seed to these countries throughout the year.