After creating a strong brand in less than a decade, Khmer Beverages Co. Ltd that produces the iconic Cambodia Beer is confident of a steady growth momentum next year with its time tested company philosophy despite rising competition in the beer market.

It has all the ingredients to dominate the local beer market. A visionary leadership, a premium home-grown brand, a strong Cambodian workforce and an established distribution network – all undoubtedly to give the company an edge to rival foreign brewers in the Kingdom.

“In terms of ranking, we are in the top two positions in Cambodia. Sometimes number one, sometimes number two.

“The Cambodian market is very challenging, it is not an easy [market]. We are very young in the industry, only about 10 years old, compared to the two other international players,” Khmer Beverages president Leang Pov (Peter) told The Post.

Located on a sprawling 15 hectares of land in Khan Dangkor district, the company currently boasts an annual production of 750 million litres, compared to merely 60 million litres when it began operations in 2009.

Bottled and canned Cambodia beer are sold across the country. And, its soft drink production touched 200 million litres annually.

“First of all our expansion is due to the economy. In the last 10 years Cambodia’s economy has grown rapidly due to the country’s stability and Cambodians have better income now.

“People in rural areas who used to consume local spirit like rice wine that is very cheap and strong have now shifted to beer because it has become a social drink. So the demand for beer has increased significantly in our beer industry,” said Leang.

Besides its top seller, the Cambodia Beer, the brewer also produces other alcoholic brands like Kudo lager beer and Barrley Black Extra Stout beer, while its non alcoholic products includes Wurkz energy drink, Ize carbonated soft drink, and Cambodia water.

The company is part of the Chip Mong conglomerate that is involved in 13 other businesses – ranging from finance, hospitality to property development.

Khmer Beverages has expanded thrice in the last seven years.

“One of our strong point is that we belong to the Chip Mong which has almost 40 years experience and has a strong distribution channel and also consumer market, because Chip Mong started as a trading business and moved to variety of manufacturing companies.

“With this strength, we can move fast in the consumer market, the distribution and consumer market are key to distribute consumer products.

“Our second strength is that being a local company, every decision is made locally in Cambodia and we have a lean board of directors.

“We are not in the market just to produce a product but to produce quality products. It is well planned, no short cut, follow the rule and the quality standards and also the international quality standards. We invest in high technology,” added Leang.

Khmer Beverages, under Leang’s leadership, thrives on four pillars or as he fondly describes as “the four Ms” - machinery, materials, method and man.

The company invests heavily in high technology, the state-of-the-art machinery from Germany and Europe, which are reliable and efficient. Ingredients to brew its beer, like hops malt and yeast, are also imported from Europe.

“As for method – as a company we believe that process and system are very important like technology.

“We are a family owned company but we do not operate as a family-owned. We operate as a professional and a multinational company. We have good standards,” added Leang.

He also goes the extra mile to maintain a dedicated workforce, which he refers as “man”. About 1,100 staff are on Khmer Beverages’ pay roll and less than five per cent are expatriates.

“We need talents to drive our company, so we have expatriates at the top management level. Foreigners help grow our local staff, they are the future management,” he said.

Leang is bullish about Cambodia’s beer market and expects a healthy growth, despite strong competition from its rivals.

“Competition is good, honestly! It makes us improve, allows to bring positive change. Growth for 2020 looks good because economy is stable.

“My vision is to keep growing with good results, so we can contribute to the economy and to the people,” he added.