Palm Juice Soft Drink

KHMER TIMES
CHEA VANNAK



The first hygienically produced soft drink made from palm juice, produced domestically, has proved popular enough to seek organic certification, and hopefully an export market.

While palm juice has been used to make sugar, alcohol and vinegar, it has never been tapped for making soft drinks on a large scale, Ieng Sotheara, founder of Khmer Organic Cooperative, the company behind the venture, told Khmer Times.

“We have seen palm juice as a non-alcoholic drink for people before, but it has never met any quality standards, so we decided to produce a high-quality product for local consumption, as well as export.”

A year after the project began, the facility in Prey Veng province’s Ba Phnom district has the capacity to produce 50 liters a day.

And the raw ingredient, juice from the ubiquitous palm trees found throughout much of Cambodia, means that production can be further scaled up if needed, said Mr. Sotheara, adding that the harvesting of which provides a valuable source of non-rice income for rural farmers.

Despite having high production standards, Mr. Sotheara said that it was proving difficult to gain proper certification as to the drink’s quality, and said that partnerships with the German development agency GIZ, and Netherlands-based Control Union, were intended to soon remedy that.

Hay Ly Eang, president of Pharma Product Manufacturing, a domestic medicine manufacturing company that also makes sugar, wine and vinegar from palm juice, welcomed the efforts of the Khmer Organic Cooperative.

“It is good to have other palm-related products entering the market which can help to better promote palm products,” Mr. Ly Eang said.

While rice prices have dropped, Mr. Ly Eang said that the prices farmers are able to command for palm juice makes it a valuable addition to their finances.

Noting that domestic consumption needs to increase for export can be considered, he stressed that in that regard, Cambodia does have some regional advantage. “Products made from palm juice are unique to Cambodia, Myanmar and India, which helps to make them unique and not able to be copied.”