Cambodian mangoes now gaining popularity across Russian markets

Cambodian mangoes are gaining popularity across Russian markets offering a boost to the Kingdom’s agricultural sector, according to a representative of an agriculture firm that exports Cambodian mangoes to Russia and Central Asia.

A senior executive of Liaoning Zhongshang International Trading Company told media that Cambodian mangoes are becoming a huge hit in the Russian markets, especially across high-end markets.

“Among various Cambodian mangoes, Keov Romeat is the most popular one in Russia. The skin of Keov Romeat is golden yellow with high sweetness, strong aroma and low pulp fibre.”

He said the supply of Keov Romeat is currently limited and the mango variety is highly popular across Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk, adding that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has not dented the demand for Cambodian mangoes in Russia.

Cambodia exported 169,658 tonnes of fresh and dried mangoes in 2022, which is quite a lower number by over 30 percent when compared to the previous year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Major countries where increasing demand for Cambodian mangoes exist and huge volume sales happen, according to the ministry, are Vietnam, Thailand, mainland China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Austria. “Dried Cambodian mangoes are a big hit in mainland China, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Russia, Italy, the UK, South Korea, the US and Australia.”

China has been one of the major markets for Cambodian mangoes. Speaking to Xinhua earlier, Reth Songheng, chief administrative officer of the Zhong Bao (Cambodia) Food Science and Technology Co Ltd, said the factory exported a total of 2,800 tons of dried mangoes to China in 2022, a year-on-year increase of between 10 and 20 percent.

Songheng attributed the export growth to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the China Cambodia Free Trade Agreement, saying that both FTAs helped reduce tariff costs, giving the factory a greater possibility to expand its production to meet the demand in the Chinese market.

“These FTAs, I think, will give a boost to Cambodia-China economic cooperation,” he said.

India is the largest mango producer in the world with 24,968,000 tonnes production per year. China comes second with 3,961,662 tonnes yearly production. With 3,561,867.46 tonnes of production per year, Indonesia is the third largest producer of mangoes.
 

Source:Khmer Times