Kampot’s famous pepper goes global

When Him Anna started to plant pepper crops seven years ago, she would have never thought that one day it would turn into a profitable business. ...

Today, Anna is the chief executive officer of Bright Starling Holdings Co, which owns Starling Farm Kampot Pepper. Established in 2010, the company exports pepper to international markets. ...

According to Anna, her farm produced about six tonnes of pepper this year. But demand is higher than the output on her farm, and so she bought about 1.5 additional tonnes from the Kampot Pepper Farmers Association (KPFA) and an extra 2 tonnes from other farmers in the area.

“Now the KPFA is happy to have contracts with many companies, but they are also upset because they don’t have enough pepper for selling,” she said, adding, that “next year, I plan to buy 10 tonnes from them”.

Buying one kilogram of black pepper from the KPFA cost her $11 this year, while her company sold a kilo at $35, because it required much more work after buying it from the farmers, such as sorting out the best quality crops for export. ...

Anna said that with about seven to eight tonnes, the majority of her company’s pepper is exported to Germany, Canada, the US, France, UK, Russia and Australia.

Also expanding locally, Anna now runs three shops in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kampot. ...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kampot%E2%80%99s-famous-pepper-goes-global