The Ministry of Commerce (MoC), in collaboration with stakeholders in the cashew sector, held a technical meeting on “Creating the Cambodian Cashew Collective Mark” to promote Cambodian cashew products to the global market.
The meeting was led by Reach Ra, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Commerce and Permanent Deputy Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to Monitor and Evaluate the National Cashew Policy 2022-2027, on Tuesday at the ministry.
The meeting was attended by MoC officials, technical officials from relevant departments, representatives from the Cambodian Cashew Federation (CCF) and the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC).
According to the statement of MoC, the preliminary meeting aimed to discuss the creation of the Cambodian Cashew Collective Mark, which is clearly stated in the National Cashew Policy 2022-2027 action plan.
The National Cashew Policy aims to achieve the vision of developing cashew production and market competitiveness, ensuring sustainability and economic diversification, and making Cambodia the world’s largest exporter of cashew nuts.
“As a result, the meeting successfully agreed to establish the Cambodian Cashew Collective Mark and hand it over to the Department of Intellectual Property to continue the establishment process,” read the statement.
Suy Kokthean, Vice President of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC), who attended the meeting with the ministry told Khmer Times on Wednesday that this is the first meeting aiming to spread the word about Cambodian cashew nuts to the world.
Explaining the initiative, he said that when buyers see the mark on the packaging of a company, they would be able to know that it is Cambodian cashew.
He explained that this collective mark would represent a unified national identity. When a company produces goods bearing the collective mark and sells them in the market, consumers will instantly recognize them as Cambodian products.
“When consumers see this collective mark on packaging, they will recognize it as a Cambodian cashew, helping to avoid confusion because in the past, some countries were unaware that high-quality and delicious cashews originated from Cambodia,” Kokthean added.
“So, Cambodia established the Cambodian cashew collective marks to ensure consumers recognize it as a genuine product of Cambodia—grown and processed locally.”
According to Kokthean, the establishment of this collective mark is aimed at selling Cambodian cashews at airports in Cambodia and also in flights.
“As a leader of CAC, I support the creation of this collective mark because our goal is to promote our cashews to the world, ensuring that they are recognized and not mistaken for products from other sources,” Kothean emphasised.
“Most of our cashews are sold around the world, but the world does not know that Cambodia is the country of origin for these cashews. Therefore, I hope that the creation of this collective mark will help raise awareness globally and ensure that our cashews are recognized more widely and authentically.”
According to the report from the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC), in the first nine months of 2024, Cambodia produced 840,000 tonnes of cashew nuts, a 26 percent increase from last year. Of this, more than 790,000 tonnes were exported to Vietnam, generating $1.11 billion—an increase of 36 percent in volume compared to the same period in 2023.
