Men Sarun to export canned noodles to the US and ASEAN

The producer of Mee Yeung instant noodles is set to expand its business by investing US$1 million in equipment to produce noodles for export, said a company official.

Deputy General Director of Men Sarun, Choun Kol, Cambodia’s only company to produce instant noodles, said the company will produce canned noodles in addition to its packaged noodles.

“We ordered the machinery already, but the order will be filled later this year. For now we will still produce packaged noodles and in another six months canned noodles,” he said.

The new machines will be delivered from China and will be able to produce 6,000 cases or 300,000 cans every 10 hours, while the company’s current machine produces about 10,000 cases of package noodles in same period, he said.

The new production targets will open markets in the US, ASEAN and other Asian states such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

About 10 to 15 per cent or approximately 30,000 to 45,000 cans of noodles produced every 10 hours will be for the Cambodian market.

Canned noodles will be about 300 riel more expensive than packaged noodles and canned noodles are much needed in the US, according to Choun Kol.

Meng Saktheara, general director of the general industry department of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said there is no need to be concerned with the quality of Cambodian products these days because of recent developments in technology, but the problem is that not many Cambodians know about the quality of products from their own country.

“Only a few people know our products and their quality. Only a few traders work with them and thus know about the improvements that have been made,” he said.

President of the Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprise of Cambodia, Te Taing Por, said the federation aims to promote local products through annual fairs by raising awareness among the Cambodian people, before introducing the products to other countries.

The federation will organise a fair for Cambodian products to showcase them for the Cambodian people in late 2013. Foreign products and companies will not be included, he said.

“We are preparing to go to other markets, so we have to strenghten our domestic markets first,” he said.