Speaking at the 2024 annual meeting of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction held in late November, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he had agreed to Kampong Thom province's proposal to establish a cashew industry center. The cashew industrial center will be formed on the basis of using public land granted by the Government, and investing in cashew growing and processing projects from the private sector. This initiative is expected to be an effective solution to create jobs and bring stable income to local people and neighboring areas. “The government has allocated 200 hectares of land for this industrial park, and preparations are still underway,” Uon Silot, president of the Cambodian Cashew Association (CAC), told the Khmer Times. According to Mr. Uon Silot, CAC has proactively proposed the Government to establish a cashew industrial park in the form of a special economic zone (SEZ) to enjoy special incentives such as tax reduction, support for infrastructure, utilities and management processes, thereby cutting production costs, improving productivity, quality and increasing the competitiveness of Cambodian cashew nuts in the international market. With an estimated cashew growing area of 580,117 hectares, Cambodia currently ranks third in the world in terms of cashew growing area, mainly distributed in the provinces of Kampong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng, Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, Oddar Meanchey, Mondulkiri, Rattanakiri, Preah Vihear, Thbong Khmum and Kampong Chhnang. Of which, Kampong Thom is the province with the largest cashew growing area, reaching 147,700 hectares, accounting for 25.5% of the total cashew growing area in the country. According to the CAC report, in the first 10 months of 2024, Cambodia produced 840,000 tons of cashew nuts, an increase of 26% over the same period last year. Data from the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries shows that the country currently has more than 580,000 hectares of cashews with an annual output of more than 800,000 tons. In the first eight months of 2024, Cambodia exported more than 560,000 tons of cashews to 11 countries.