Cambodia exported 4,789.68 tonnes of dry tobacco leaves from January to July, a 100 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year, The Phnom Penh Post reported.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Vietnam was the top destination market, accounting for 4,687.7 tonnes or a 97.87 per cent share, followed by Taiwan (47.25 tonnes), Hungary (39.60 tonnes), the Philippines (15.11 tonnes) and South Africa (0.02 tonnes).
In 2016, Cambodia and Vietnam signed an agreement that provides preferential tariff treatment for agricultural products at the common border. Under the agreement, which has been renewed each subsequent calendar year, the Kingdom is allowed to export 3,000 tonnes of dried tobacco to Vietnam duty-free for one year.
Tbong Khmum provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries director Heng Piseth told The Post that tobacco cultivation is mainly done by smallholder farmers along the Mekong. He said acreage and yields in the province increased only slightly from the previous year after several years of stagnation due to a lack of domestic demand. “Farmers always cultivate in line with market demand, so tobacco production has not increased significantly,” he said.
Piseth also informed that there is one tobacco cigarette factory in the province that sources the dry leaves locally. According to the department, the area under tobacco cultivation in Tbong Khmum in 2021 was 680 ha with an average yield of 1.70 tonnes per hectare.