Phnom Penh, 02, April, 2026 – Cambodia exported one million tonnes of raw cashew nuts in 2025, generating approximately USD 1.5 billion in revenue, according to the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia. The association reported in January 2026 that approximately 90 percent of that volume was shipped to Vietnam for processing before reaching export markets, leaving the bulk of the sector’s value-added activity outside Cambodian borders.
MIRARTH Agri Tech, a Japanese-operated cashew processing facility in Kampong Thom province, expected to ship more than 600 tonnes of processed cashews in 2026, more than 50 percent above the approximately 300 tonnes it exported the previous year, according to a factory briefing reported by Kampuchea Thmey Daily on March 11, 2026. Six hundred tonnes against one million tonnes of raw exports places Japan’s current processing contribution at below one tenth of one percent of Cambodia’s annual raw cashew output.
Silot Uon, president of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia, stated in 2026 that Cambodia requires processing facilities capable of handling approximately 300,000 tonnes of raw nuts annually to stabilize prices within the sector.
The Japan External Trade Organization coordinated with the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia to plan a business-matching mission to cashew farms, factories, and the Cashew Industrial Park, according to an association statement in December 2025. On March 12, 2026, the association hosted a matching event connecting nine Cambodian producers with fourteen Japanese firms, according to the Khmer Times. MIRARTH Agri Tech signed a procurement contract valued at USD 650,000 for more than 400 tonnes of raw nuts from three communities in Kampong Thom province in March 2025, according to Cambodianess.
Cambodia is scheduled to graduate from the United Nations’ Least Developed Country classification in 2029, a transition that alters the trade preference architecture under which Cambodian exports currently access certain markets. Cambodia’s investment coordination bodies have identified in-country agro-industrial processing as a strategic priority for maintaining export competitiveness after that transition.
The Cambodia-Japan Business Co-Creation Team, a joint investment coordination mechanism with a mandate covering agro-industrial processing, was formally launched in January 2026, according to the Khmer Times. Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol discussed the team’s progress with a delegation from the Japan-Cambodia Association on April 1, 2026, and encouraged expanded Japanese investment in aquaculture, according to an Agence Kampuchea Presse report published the following day.
Whether Japanese-led processing investment can scale to a level that materially shifts Cambodia’s value-added cashew position before the 2029 transition is not addressed in the available documentation.
