T

HE producers of Angkor Beer have toasted the despatch of their first ever

shipment to an export market. The breakthrough came in Japan after Cambrew

Company's product sailed past tough quality control tests.

Marketing

Director Jaime Fong said: "Japan is known for their demand for high quality

products. The company is proud Angkor Beer has passed the Japanese stringent

quality control standards."

He said the first container of 1,000 cartons

each packed with a dozen large bottles of Angkor beer was to leave Sihanoukville

port on June 30.

Fong said: "Angkor is the favorite beer for the

Japanese tourists staying in Cambodia, so we hope it will attract large export

orders from Japanese traders."

Fong said: "I don't think Angkor could

dominate the traditional Japanese beer. No imported beer can win over locally

made beer anywhere in the world."

He said Cambrew was aggressively

exploring the export market to generate foreign income for Cambodia.

"Our

beer has also passed the English quality control tests, we will begin exporting

there in one or two months, and other export markets will include [other

countries in] Europe in the very near future. We strongly believe the beer will

be accepted worldwide."

Fong said: "Angkor is the number one beer in

Cambodia, Cambrew sells 100,000 cartons of Angkor per month. Our nearest

competitor is Tiger beer, but they sell much less than us.

"The company

is in the midst of building additional plants which would increase production

capacity and are scheduled for completion by the end of 1994."

"Our

current production capacity is 200,000 cartons of beer per month, and when the

new plants are completed we will be able to produce 300,000 cartons per

month."

"We should be able to meet both local and export demand in 1995,

but I'm not sure how big the export market will be. It is very difficult to

predict."