Chey Sambor Cashew Nut Processing Handicraft's plans to provide a second batch of cashew nuts this month to Top Planning Japan Co Ltd for export to Japan will be delayed to early-June, according to Chey Sambor owner In Lai Huot.
This comes after the Kampong Thom province-based manufacturing enterprise sent an inaugural shipment of eight tonnes of cashew nuts to Top Planning last week as part of an April contract.
Lai Huot told The Post on May 10 that the nine-tonne second shipment had been delayed due to a reduction in the number of daily workers, taken as a preventive measure for Covid-19.
She stressed that fallout from the February 20 community outbreak had a negative impact on the business, saying that workers were split into two groups working on different days, a move she noted has reduced production capacity to some extent.
"Even though we don't have enough workers, we will try our best to produce all nine tonnes as planned, even if it is a little slow. I have already asked for the buyer's understanding regarding this," she said.
According to Lai Huot, her business can process two-to-three tonnes of cashew nuts daily and deshell 10 tonnes of raw cashew kernels per day. She noted that last week's delivery was categorised into three classes – unbroken, slightly broken and very broken.
Under a contract inked with Chey Sambor, Top Planning has provided the manufacturing enterprise $200,000 to build a cashew nut processing plant in Kampong Thom's Kampong Svay district. According to the deal, Chey Sambor will provide the exporter 90 tonnes of cashew nuts each year in the first phase.
Cambodia exported 218,981 tonnes of cashew nuts last year, up 8.24 per cent from 202,318 tonnes in 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported.
Export destinations included Vietnam, Japan, Russia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, France, South Korea, Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Laos.
