Bittersweet harvest | Bangkok Post: business

PHNOM PENH : Cambodia's burgeoning sugar industry has appeared a sweet deal to both local and international investors of late. Allegations of land-grabbing and human rights abuses now dogging producers, however, have left many people souring on the sector.

Sacks of freshly produced raw sugar are lined up at the Cambodian plant in which SET-listed Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Plc (KSL) is a jointventure partner. The plant last year became the first new sugar mill to begin operating in the country in more than 40 years.

With neighbouring Thailand, the world's second-biggest sugar exporter, aiming to export 7 million tonnes this year, sugar would appear a natural choice for Cambodia as it attempts to diversify its agro-industrial production. Adding further attraction has been the duty-free access to European markets which, along with guaranteed minimum prices, came into effect in 2009 for Cambodian sugar as part of the European Union's Everything But Arms (EBA) trade initiative.