Mong Reththy Group (MRG) will begin construction on a US$16 million crude palm oil refinery next month in Preah Sihanouk province, where several thousand hectares of palm trees are grown, insiders said yesterday.

Mong Reththy, president of the eponymous firm, told the Post that his company intends to start construction on the 60-tonne capacity refinery in April, with the plant to be finished within 12 months.

He said the company began planting palm trees in 1995, when its five-tonne capacity refinery was built. But as growing numbers of palm trees were planted in the area, the company decided to upgrade the refinery to reach a 30-tonne capacity per hour.

MRG expects the production of crude palm oil to increase to 22,000 tonnes this year (out of 110,000 tonnes of palm crops), up from 18,000 tonnes of crude oil production in 2012.

Reththy said the bulk of his company’s crude palm oil is exported to Malaysia, from where it is sent to Thailand, India and Europe.

“We are not afraid of a lack of a market. Wherever there are people, there are buyers, because palm oil can make up to 200 kinds of foods,” he said.

“We don’t worry about the market, but what we are concerned about is the lack of land to grow on.”