Japan pledges to boost silk industry

A Japanese beauty company is to invest in Cambodian silk production to supply the local market and export to Asia and the United States. Il Brille, which runs two beauty salons and a shop in Phnom Penh, uses silk in cosmetic treatments and products for customers. Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak last week met the CEO of the Japanese company and encouraged it to invest in the local silk industry, which he said is at risk of collapse.
 

Kazunori Kato told the minister the company will try and develop silk production in Cambodia to supply silk products locally and to buyers in Asia and the United States. He said his company has already sent staff for training in Thailand on how to grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms. Silkworms only eat the leaves of the white mulberry tree.
 

Mr. Kato said the training will help to reduce the reliance on imports of raw silk from Thailand and Vietnam in future. Mulberry trees are now a rarity in Cambodia – most of them having been destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era. Silk weavers in Banteay Meanchey, Kandal, Takeo and Phnom Penh’s main silk producing area of Koh Dach have no choice but to import raw silk from either Vietnam or Thailand.
 

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