Siem Reap sausage maker reaps international acclaim for links

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kyle Sherer
Thursday, 29 January 2009

SIEM Reap manufacturer Ly Tian Seng Sausage continues to produce the connoisseurs' sausage of choice, boosting its domestic trade during a successful showing at the third One Province One Product Exhibition at Mondial Center in Phnom Penh last December.

That exhibition was designed to promote Cambodian-made goods, and the Ly Tian Seng Sausage stall proved a hit. It moved sausages at 8,000 riels (US$1.94) per kilogram - 1,000 riels more than other brands.

One month after the conference, the company is reaping the benefits of the good word-of-mouth, claiming a 100 percent increase in customers and an optimistic outlook for business prospects this year.

Ly Tian Seng Sausage also garnered some regional export business last year after exhibiting at the Thai Indochina Trade Fair in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.

Yem Hok, nephew of the company's manager Chuon Peng, told the Post that Ly Tian Seng Sausage goods are popular with tourists from Vietnam, Singapore and China, as well as Cambodian expatriates.

"People buy our sausages as a gift," he says.

But while the sausages have attracted a dedicated international fan base, they are yet to fully catch on with Siem Reap hotels, despite the hotel industry's claim that it has to import 85 percent of its foodstuffs because of lack of local product. "No hotel buys regularly," Yem Hok says.

"They only order from us when a guest specifically requests it."

But this may be be the one negative aspect of the company's otherwise positive business model of cornering the gourmet niche by making sausages to order, rather than mass-producing them.

Chuon Peng, 40, is an industry veteran, and has been churning out sausages in Siem Reap since 1979, crafting a reputation for diligence that spans the region.

He has worked at his family's sausage business since he was nine years old and is raising the family children to follow in his footsteps.

Yem Hok says the company's "quality and cleanliness have resulted in good reviews from clients in and out of the country", and that the Ministry of Commerce export-import inspection body conducts regular appraisals.