Friday, 25 May 2012
By Rann Reuy
Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia's silk producers say they must cut costs in order to continue
reaching troubled European markets, the primary target for the Kingdom’s
sericulture products.
Insiders said Cambodian companies must start producing their own silk for the industry to survive.
Silk craftspeople import some 400 tonnes of silk per year from China then export finished products.
The reduction in price would come directly out of the silk itself, Seung Kimyonn, director of the Cambodian Craft Cooperation, said this week.
Silk
producers have already started adding cotton to the products, he said.
Seung Kimyonn’s company, which caters to the European market, used a
total of two tonnes of silk per year about two years ago.
The amount of silk used in his export products was cut in half last year.
“In
the past, I produce products from 100 per cent silk, but now we are
making changes in order to maintain the market,” said Seung Kimyonn, who
is also a silk craftsman.
International demand for Cambodian
craft products have dropped substatially as European purse strings have
tightened, the Post reported earlier this year.
Seung Kimyonn’s
team is designing products that will blend a significant amount of
cotton, which sells for US$4 per kilogramme, compared to $50 for the
same amount of silk.
There are other ways to lower the price of
the country’s silk, Sisowath Pheanuroth, president of the Advisory Board
for Small and Medium Industry Association of Cambodia, said.
Cambodians should reduce their reliance on Chinese silk by producing their own, he said.
“Unless Cambodia can produce silk by itself, there will be challenges for our silk products,” Sisowath Pheanuroth said.
Seung Kimyonn said his company will start to target regional tourist from China and Korea.
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