BELGIUM'S Grand-Place chocolate company announced on Monday that it will open a sales office in Phnom Penh to import chocolate.

The firm, a business-to-business operation, is looking to sell 35 tonnes in the first year, it said.

Adrien Restle, managing director of the company's Cambodia office, said the company saw an opening after researching the Cambodian market.

"We undertook some surveys in Cambodia, and there is no service like that ... so we decided to be the first to develop the chocolate market here and help people improve their technique," he said at a an official launch in Phnom Penh Monday.

Initially the firm will import chocolates from its factory in Vietnam, but Restle said he hopes to start production in the Kingdom in the future.

The firm sells 3,500 tonnes of chocolate worldwide each year.