Chey Sambo Cashew Nut Processing Handicraft in Kampong Thom province will start shipments to Japan at the end of this month. Under the terms of the contract it will supply 500 tonnes of the dried food. The first shipment of eight tonnes will be sent at the end of April and the second shipment of another nine tonnes will be made next month, said In Lai Huot, president of the Chey Sambor Cashew Nut Processing Handicraft. The company won the contract with Japan’s Top Planning firm, she said. “This is the first shipment to be sent abroad by Handicraft and the amount will be expected to increase from now on,” she told Khmer Times yesterday. Handicraft, formed in 2019, collects cashews from 100 farmer families who plant the crop on more than 700 hectares of land in Kampong Thom province. Processed cashew nut prices were $12,500 per tonne this year. Last year, the nuts were priced at $13,000 a tonne. In 2020, Handicraft produced only 150 tonnes of cashew nuts. In addition to exports, its products are also supplied to local markets including grocery stores, restaurants and catering services. Veng Sakhon, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, praised cashew nut processing in Kampong Thom province for export as a great achievement in the processing sector of raw goods. “In the name of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, I appreciate and highly value as well as congratulate their efforts to achieve the Chey Sambor Cashew Nut Processing Handicraft in Kampong Thom province,” Sakhon said. Cambodia is a country with great potential to grow cashews, an easy-to-grow tree that is very suitable for ourvweather and climate. According to the ministry, the area of cashew cultivation in Cambodia covered 258,984 hectares in 2020. The harvested area in the period of 2021 will reach 162,294 hectares and the average yield is 1.49 tonnes a hectare.