Malaysia-BASED agricult-ural and commodities company Felda Global Ventures Holdings is considering investing in palm oil, sugar and rubber crops in Cambodia.

Felda Global head of corpor-ate communications Izan Hussain said yesterday the company had received numerous business proposals, but had not made any decisions.

“Our discussions and explorations of possible business activities in Cambodia are still in the early stages, and we are not able to divulge these yet,” Hussain told the Post.

“I can confirm, however, that expansion into ASEAN countries is a part of our [strategic plan] going forward.”

Felda Global planned to increase revenue significantly in the next eight years, focusing on palm oil, sugar and rubber crops, Hussain said.

Felda Global senior vice-president and head of plantations for Malaysia Ismail Hassan told Bernama on Wednesday the expansion was necessary for the company to be “commercially viable”.

Felda is also considering expanding in Indonesia and   to Myanmar.

Cambodia’s exports of agricultural products to Malaysia rose sharply last year compared with 2011, according to the Malaysian embassy in Cambodia, with milled rice and crude rubber accounting for most of the total.

Cambodian products acc-ounted for 79 per cent of Malaysia’s total agricultural imports last year.

Him Khortieth, communication officer of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, said many Malaysian agricultural companies had recently showed interest in investing in Cambodia, particularly in rice and palm sugar crops.

“We hope that those investments will boost exports of Cambodian products to Malaysia,” he said.

The Post reported last month  that Malaysia’s Rubber Industry Smallholders’ Development Authority planned to develop 20,000 hectares of rubber and palm-oil plantations in Cambodia, provided suitable land could be found.