Water bottler sets sights on growing Cambodian market

Water bottler sets sights on growing Cambodian market
Written by May Kunmakara
Friday, 05 December 2008

A $2 million company hopes to cash in on the growing local bottled
market by using modern technology and local natural resources

A NEW player in Cambodia's purified drinking water market has seen
early signs of success with a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant and
production facility in Kampot province, and expects to distribute
nationwide in 2009, the company said.

TADA Bokor Natural Spring Drinking Water began operations in early
November with a US$2 million capital investment from the T-DA Import
Export Co Ltd, which distributes the brand in Kampot province,
Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

Company owner and first deputy president of Cambodia's National
Committee for Disaster Management, Nhim Vanda, said TADA Bokor was
licensed by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy in 2006
following a study conducted with foreign partners to determine the
suitability of mineral water from Kampot province's Bokor mountain.

A bottling factory was built at the base of the mountain in Makprang
district, Nhim Vanda said.

"Our factory was built to rigid technical standards and equipped with
the latest technology imported from abroad to meet all hygiene
requirements," he said.

"We have been evaluated by our national laboratory at the Ministry of
Industry and the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia at the Ministry of
Water Management, as well as by consultants from South Korea."

Nhim Vanda said the company also manufactures its own plastic bottles
and has taken steps not to adversely affect the province's natural
environment, which has become the focus of nascent efforts to create
an ecotourism industry in the Kingdom.


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OUR FACTORY WAS BUILT TO RIGID TECHNICAL STANDARDS ... [WITH] THE
LATEST TECHNOLOGY.

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TADA Bokor employs 35 workers and produces an estimated 1,200 to 1,500
cases of water each day.

"We purify the natural spring drinking water through reverse osmosis
and ozone processes, as well as ultraviolet purification technology,
to make it better than other brands," he said.
"I will enlarge our distribution to other provinces nationwide next
year," he said.

Chheng Uddra, bureau chief of the Product Licensing Department at the
Ministry of Industry, said TADA Bokor has complied with all ministry
regulations and requirements.

"I have sent my experts last month to check the quality of the water,
the bottling and the factory to ensure it was built to proper
standards," he said.

There are more than 130 pure drinking water companies operating in
Cambodia, but only 20-including TADA Bokor-operate within health
parameters set by the government, Chheng Uddra said.

He added that because the ministry has not always implemented existing
laws, it imposes three-month evaluations on companies to test the
quality of the water.

If standards are not being met, then companies risk losing their
license, Chheng Uddra said.
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