Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture is set to sign an agreement to buy palm sugar with Geographical Indicator status from local producers, with the aim of conducting international exports to Singapore.

CEDAC’s enterprise manager Lang Seng Haung said the organisation is set to ink a deal tomorrow with Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Improving Farmer Association to buy 15 tonnes of palm sugar each year.  The price would be set at around US$1,000 per tonne. “We hope that CEDAC will get palm sugar products of high quality that can be exported into the international markets,” he said.

Kampong Speu palm sugar was granted GI status last year, under a World Trade Organisation  agreement. It brands products based on the areas for which they are famous, such as champagne from France and Cambodia’s Kampot pepper.

Sam Saroeun, president of Cambodian Sugar Association in Kampong Speu, said that the organisation had already inked a new contract this year to sell 10 tonnes of sugar to a company called Development & Appropriate Technology. He added that the association has 172 producers in Samraong Tong and Odong districts.