New Local Products Campaign

KHMER TIMES
SOK CHAN

It is still an uphill battle to get made-in-Cambodia products recognized in the country. KT/Mai Vireak

The Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (FASMEC) will launch its “Selling Cambodian Products” campaign throughout the country early next year to boost the sale of local products and reduce imports, the organization’s president said yesterday.

FASMEC president Te Taing Por said his association is seeking directives from the government to set up the campaign in the country’s 25 provinces to raise awareness about local products to Cambodian people.

“Some expositions are held only in the capital so some Cambodian products are not known in other provinces. Therefore, I will ask the government directly to begin this campaign in 25 provinces and cities. An expo will be held every half month,” Mr. Taing Por said.

“We are doing this is to prevent foreign products from being sold on the Cambodian market.”

When asked how it differed from the Ministry of Commerce’s “Buy Khmer Products” campaign, Mr. Taing Por said the ministry’s exposition merely scratched the surface. He said there would be a hundred booths at each of FASMEC’s expositions and his organization would seek support from the government to not impose high tax and other services at the expo.

Por Koung, CEO of Orchel Farm Co., Ltd., a local organic pepper company, told Khmer Times that he welcomed FASMEC’s initiative and expects its campaign will be successful since the private sector has a lot of money to promote local products.

Mr. Koung said the ministry’s “Buy Khmer Products” campaign was not that effective and not widely known in terms of promoting local products or packaging for the foreign market and fewer local customers were involved.

“We just put our products on display and return home. This benefits no one,” Mr. Koung added. “The FASMEC exposition on ‘Selling Cambodian Products’ might be beneficial since they spend quite a lot on promotion.”

However Keo Mom, CEO of Lyly Food Industry, told Khmer Times that there has been increasing demand for local products after the Commerce Ministry’s campaign. She said that during the exposition there was more support, but after the expo it was difficult to find the local products because there were no company representatives in each province or town.

“Expos can only partially help local producers. There must be a wide distribution channel to gain market share and ensure they [local products] are available to Cambodian people,” Ms. Mom said.

“The expo was conducted for about two to three days, so some customers missed it. Thus, if there is an exact location to display Khmer products, it would be better,” she added, referring to the Commerce Ministry’s exposition.

Ms. Mom said the quality of Cambodian products and packaging was competitive to that of imported products and thought FASMEC’s “Selling Cambodian Products” campaign would be good to promote local products to Cambodian people.

In May, the Ministry of Commerce launched its “Buy Khmer Products” campaign, which ends in November. It was organized in four provinces including the capital. The campaign was held in Siem Reap province from May 26-29, Kampong Cham province from June 23-26, Preah Sihanouk province from July 14-17 and will be in Phnom Penh from November 3-6.