• Economics

Cambodian Peppers Join Giant e-Commerce Site

• By Ou Sokmean
• January 2, 2023 3:15 PM

PHNOM PENH – Cambodian peppers will be sold on China’s giant e-commerce Alibaba website to boost exports and promote the products’ quality.

Sela Pepper Co, which produces and processes peppers for the national and international markets, will use the site to expand sales to China.

Sela Pepper general manager Soeng Sopha said sales will go ahead after Chinese Customs allow the exports to go ahead in line with sanitary and phytosanitary conditions.

“I have registered on Alibaba for a long time now,” Sopha said.

“It is just that we could not export the peppers yet because we were waiting for Cambodia to sign a Free Trade Agreement with China and for China’s Customs Administration’s permission first.

“When Cambodia has all of that, we also have a plan to sell the peppers on Alibaba in 2023.”

Sopha did not expect many sales. She only wanted a presence of the product on the platform.

“What we do expect most will be in 2024, meaning that we hope our hard work in 2023 will be fruitful in 2024.”

Cambodian peppers’ taste and quality is internationally recognized, she added.

Sela Pepper is planning an appearance in South Korea with an exhibition in Seoul to further promote Cambodian peppers.

In 2022, the Sela Pepper exported around 100 tonnes of peppers. The biggest markets included Poland, South Korea and Taiwan.

In 2021, Chea Kok Hong, the secretariat chief of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, suggested selling cashew nuts and peppers on Alibaba to expand the markets for both.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Cambodia exported nearly 7,000 tonnes of peppers in the first seven months of 2022, down 70 percent on the same period in 2021.

 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Meng Seavmey for Cambodianess.