• Society

Processed Prohok Bound for Export

• By Chhum Chantha
• June 22, 2023 8:53 PM

PHNOM PENH – Hay Ly Eang, the CEO of eco-friendly food and beverage company Confirel, plans to process fermented fish sauce prahok for export after early attempts got a lot of support.

He spoke on June 18 at the award ceremony of “Thnot d’Or”, or the Golden Palm Award, a prahok processing competition where students from the Royal University of Agriculture turn prahok into a popular dish.

Ly Eang said the young people were interested in processing prahok, which Confirel supported along with further studies into exports, he said.

He is also seeking International Intellectual Property (IP) status with hopes of high demand for Cambodia’s prahok.

“When we have obtained IP, we believe that our prahok will have a bright future, adding more value to our production and processing for export,” Ly Eang said.

Cambodia’s Prahok was delicious and good in quality but the problem lay with the smell and the packaging, which concern foreign customers who are not used to its smell, he added.

Besides, prahok can be too salty, which might also affect their health if not used properly.

Nevertheless, the company has solved these problems by processing three types of prahok: light-smelling, slightly-smelling and original-smelling. The products have gained much support from foreign customers.

“If the Prahok has a strong smell, we can also lessen it; if it’s too salty, we can also reduce it,” he said.

“No matter what, we will process prahok in accordance with international standards.

“We have high hopes because we have tested it already and received so much support from foreign customers who are consuming prahok.”

Ly Eang says the company buys prahok from farmers and processes it for the final products. However, he has considered establishing a community in which farmers produce prahok to sell for processing at the company in the future.

Confirel was the first company to start purchasing Kampong Speu palm sugar in 2001 to process for export. The company has also distributed Cambodian peppers.

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