MISTI Organises Inaugural Forum to Strengthen Cambodia’s Manufacturing Value Chains
MISTI’s First Business & Supporting Industry Potential Forum
The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (MISTI) recently held its first-ever “Business & Supporting Industry Potential Forum,” with the goal of enhancing value chains within Cambodia’s domestic manufacturing sector. The event brought together key stakeholders — from manufacturers and suppliers to policymakers — to explore ways to strengthen the local industrial base and foster partnerships across the supply chain
During the forum, participants discussed challenges faced by the domestic manufacturing sector, including a fragmented ecosystem, limited scale of operations, and lack of integration among producers, processors, distributors, and retailers. The meeting served as a platform to propose solutions and foster collaboration to overcome these hurdles.
Why This Matters for Cambodia’s Industry
Historically, Cambodia’s manufacturing sector has relied heavily on imported raw materials and fragmented supply chains, limiting the competitiveness and value addition of locally made products.
With this forum, MISTI aims to push forward a transformation: by fostering backward linkages, encouraging supporting industries, and promoting integration of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into broader value chains, the Ministry hopes to drive sustainable growth, job creation, and reduce reliance on imports.
Moreover, this initiative aligns with ongoing efforts by MISTI to improve national quality infrastructure — including product registration, standards, and traceability — to boost consumer confidence and enable Cambodian products to meet both domestic and international standards.
What Stakeholders Took Away
- A shared recognition that strengthening value chains demands coordinated efforts: from raw-material suppliers to manufacturers to distributors and retailers. Standalone small-scale producers risk being excluded unless they integrate.
- A push for quality assurance, standardization, and product registration, which the Ministry has already advanced through campaigns to ease and incentivise compliance.
- A call for greater support for SMEs and supporting industries — including suppliers, packaging, logistics and processing services — so that domestic manufacturing becomes more competitive and less dependent on imports.
- A roadmap toward building supply-chain resilience by enabling linkages between larger firms and smaller suppliers, and encouraging the adoption of modern technology, sustainable practices, and proper certification.
What Comes Next
The forum marks the beginning of a renewed push toward a more integrated, higher-value manufacturing ecosystem in Cambodia. Going forward:
- MISTI is likely to follow up with policies, incentives, or support mechanisms encouraging SMEs and supporting industries to formalize, register products, and upgrade capabilities.
- There might be more collaboration platforms — connecting producers, suppliers, distributors — to enable business matching and partnerships across sectors.
- Over time, we can expect a stronger pipeline of locally made, quality-certified products, more competitive manufacturing, and greater participation in both domestic and export markets
