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STAKEHOLDER FORUM ON 

SUSTAINABLE AND PRO-POOR 

OLEORESIN INDUSTRY 

DEVELOPMENT IN CAMBODIA 

23 September 2011, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

Organized by 

in cooperation with 

Ponlok Khmer 

WWF 

My Village 

Supported by

Acronyms 

CBNE 

CBNRM 

CBRE 

CDRI 

CF 

CISP 

CNWG 

CO 

CPAs 

CPF 

CRA 

FASMEC 

GHGs 

MoC 

MoE 

MVI 

NFP 

NGOs 

NTFP-EP 

NTFPs 

SMEs 

SSEZs 

UN 

USD 

WCS 

WWF 

Community-Based NTFP Enterprise 

Community-Based Natural Resource Management 

Community-Based Resin Enterprise 

Cambodian Development Research Institute 

Community Forestry 

Creative Industry Support Programme 

Cambodia NTFP Working Group 

Certificate of Original 

Community Protected Areas 

Community Protected Forest 

Cambodia Rattan Association 

Federation of Association for Small and Medium Enterprise in Cambodia 

Green House Gases 

Ministry of Commerce 

Ministry of Environment 

My Village International 

National Forest Programme 

Non-Governmental Organizations 

Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme 

Non-Timber Forest Products 

Small and Medium Enterprises 

Special Social Economic Zones 

United Nations 

United State Dollar 

Wildlife Conservation Society 

World Wildlife Fund 

2

CONTENT 

Acronyms 2 

I Overview of the Forum 5 

II Objectives 7 

III Expected Results 7 

IV Participants 7 

V Forum Programme 8 

VI Proceedings 9 

1. Welcome and Opening Remarks 9 

2. Panel Presentation 1: Experiences and Perspectives of the Cambodia 

NTFP Working Group (CNWG) on sustainable oleoresin management 11 

and community based oleoresin enterprise development 

2.1 Networking and Capacity-building interventions in Sustainable 

Resin Management – By Mr. Khou Eanghourt, CNWG National 11 

Facilitator... 

2.2 Sustainable Resin Harvesting and Community-Based Enterprise 

Development – By Mr. Pek Samon, Ponlok Khmer, Preah Vihear 14 

province 

2.3 Resin Enterprise Management: An Important Approach to 

Management of the Eastern Plains Landscape in Cambodia – By Mr. 14 

Son Bora and Amy Maling, WWF-Cambodia………………………..... 

3. Panel Presentation 2: Exploring Diverse Uses and Market Potential of 

Cambodian Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Dipterocarp Balsams 

16 

3.1 Characterization and End Uses of Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Balsams 

– By Ms. Mariluz San Pedro Dionglay, Senior Science Research 

Specialist, Technology Innovation Division, Forest Products Research 

16 

Development Institute, Los Banos, the Philippines 

3.2 Integrating Oleoresin Processing from Cambodian Dipterocarps for 

Community based Forest Management : a sharing from Philippines 

Experience – By Ms. Mildred Miranda Fidel, Chief of Division, 17 

Technical Services, Forest Products Research Development Institute, 

Los Banos, the Philippines 

3.3 Cambodian dipterocarp balsams in the regional and international 

market – By Ms. Nola Andaya-Milani, Social Marketing Specialist, 19 

Philippines & France 

4. Panel Presentation 3: Exploring Sustainable Forest Enterprise 

Development Programme Opportunities in Cambodia 

20 

4.1 Cambodian experience in (pro-poor) small-medium industry 

development: building from the ground up: the case of Rattan & 

Handicrafts Sector – By Mr. Lun Yeng, Executive Director, Federation 20 

of Associations for Small & Medium Enterprise in Cambodia 

(FASMEC) & General Manager, Daun Penh House 

4.2 Increasing the Economic Value of Dipterocarp Balsams for Forest 

Communities in Cambodia – By Mr. Tith Seyla, Enterprise 

21 

Development Officer, NTFP-EP/NatureWild 

5. Critical Perspectives and Recommendations on pro-poor sustainable 

oleoresin development in Cambodia 

23 

5.1 First Panelist: Mr. Ken Sereyrotha Deputy Director-General 

Department of Administration for Nature Conservation & Protection, 24 


5.2 Second Panelist: Community Representative: Preah Vihear Resin 

Association 

25 

5.3 Third Panelist: NGO/Environment & Conservation: Mr. Ashish John, 

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) 

26 

VII Closing Remarks 26 

3

NatureWild & The Resin Story: Exhibition and Socials 

VIII Annex 27 

Annex I: Opening Remarks 28 

Annex II: Detail Agenda 32 

Annex III: Participant List 35 

Annex IV: Presentations 43 

: 

4

Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable and 

Pro-Poor Oleoresin Industry Development 

in Cambodia 

23 September 2011 

Himawari Hotel 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

I. Overview of the Forum 

Dipterocarp oleoresins or balsams are important products in the rural economy and a source 

of income for a great number of (mostly indigenous) collectors in Southeast Asia including 

Cambodia. In NTFP-EP’s resin trade chain study in 2009, it was found that over 17,000 

households (or about 100,000 individuals) depend on resin tapping as their primary source 

of cash income (averaging US$350 per household per annum). The resins are locally 

employed for waterproofing boats and baskets, while lower grades are used as fuel for 

torches. There is also a thriving resin trade intra-region. About 3,500 tonnes of the total 

annual harvest is used domestically where it provides key inputs to the vital and crisisresistant 

fishing industry, 1 while an estimated average of 11,000 tonnes per annum is 

exported, mostly to Vietnam, with no value addition premium (NTFP-EP, 2009). Based on 

the same research, Preah Vihear and Mondulkiri provinces rank as the top 2 contributors of 

Cambodia’s total resin production; up to 10,000 tonnes in Preah Vihear and up to 3,000 

tonnes from Mondulkiri. 2 The current annual value of unprocessed resin exports from 

Cambodia to Vietnam is between US$4.7 to US$7.6 million. A much smaller volume finds its 

way to Thailand and (for re-export) Laos. Meanwhile, a growing, though currently still 

modest volume of resin originating in Southeast Asia enters the manufacture of high end 

natural varnishes and paints, produced in Germany and elsewhere in the European Union. As 

well, there is an increasing global call for “greener, fairer and sustainable” economies to 

which natural and fairly traded products, in general, are provided with market entry points. 

For example, with the growing overall interest worldwide in truly ecological products, there 

appears to be considerable, albeit so far untapped, potential to develop the household and 

industrial applications, as well as other possible niche markets of dipterocarp resins such as 

natural paints, varnish and glue, and essential oil and balsams for both domestic and 

international markets. 

The Cambodia NTFP Working Group (CNWG) in cooperation with the Non-Timber Forest 

Products Exchange Programme of South and Southeast Asia (NTFP-EP) have been, since 

2007, building a knowledge and partnership base for the development of sustainable 

management and marketing of dipterocarp resins in Cambodia. With support from the UN- 

MDGF Creative Industries Support Programme, local NGO members of the Cambodia NTFP 

Working Group have undertaken sustainable and community based resin enterprise 

development project initiatives in 7 villages in two provinces, Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear. 

This entailed community organizing and business support to community resin 

groups/associations. Additionally, under the same CISP support, NTFP-EP took the 

facilitation role in the commercialization and value chain development of resins from the 

project target areas within a 10-month period. This role involved: 

• Developing through a participatory process sustainable/quality resin tapping 

protocols and standards 

1 An estimated 350,000 wooden fishing boats ply the inland waters of Cambodia. All these boats need regular caulking. In 

addition, fishing crews increasingly use resin torches for lighting at night, as a substitute for either kerosene lamps or battery 

fueled torches. The lower resin grades used for the latter purpose would otherwise be considered waste material. Luu, T.H. et 

al. (draft July 2009). Resin Studies in Vietnam (Hochiminh City: CBD and NTFP-EP), found that tree resins are also widely 

used for caulking the boats in Vietnam’s fishing fleet. 

2 Prom Tola (2009). Beyond Subsistence: Trade Chain Analysis of Resin Products in Cambodia. (Phnom Penh: NTFP 

Exchange Programme). 

5

• Assessing value-added markets for dipterocarp resins in Cambodia 

• Identifying at least 2 value-added resin products for development 

• Market-testing in Cambodia for these 2 value-added resin products 

Further scoping of NTFP-EP of the value-added markets of oleoresins in Cambodia has 

shown that 3,000-4000 tonnes of lower quality and unfiltered resins are allocated for 

domestic use, especially to use for caulking boats and making torches in Cambodia. CISP’s 

2009 value chain study further estimates a domestic demand for boat sealing from 4,000- 

6,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, there is a thriving market for synthetic resin-based products (semi 

finished products from Thailand and packaged in Cambodia) such as varnish, glues and 

paints, which is serving the building and construction sector in the country. A few private 

company wholesaler/distributors cover Phnom Penh and provinces. 

On the other hand, NTFP-EP (2011) has found that good quality oleoresin is retained 

domestically to use as natural varnish for wooden houses and as raw material for Khmer 

traditional art, and other minor uses. These are mostly retailed in informal markets and are 

mainly captured by small roadside retailers and few wholesalers. The estimated domestic 

demand for such products are at 45-50 tonnes annually, valued at USD 3.9-4.9 million which 

does not include resins for other minor uses. Further exploratory investigation has revealed 

the essential oil properties of dipterocarp resins from Cambodia. This is corroborated in 

literature on oleoresins from Indochina and trade of dipterocarp balsams 3 to international 

markets such as Europe (eg. France), East and South Asia. 

Why a RESIN Stakeholder Forum in Cambodia 

Within the framework of the Creative Industries Support Programme (CISP), a three-year 

program funded by the UN - Spain Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, the 

program’s main aim is to revive Cambodia’s tangible and intangible cultural assets. Through 

this cultural assets revival, it is expected that a critical contribution is made to increase the 

potential of local and selected creative industries for job creation, economic growth and 

poverty alleviation in the country. The non-timber forest product (or NTFP) sector, which 

supports the culture and livelihoods of a significant forest-based population of Cambodia, 

(including of indigenous communities) has been selected to contribute to the achievement of 

the programme’s aims. In particular, the CISP sought value-chain development 

interventions that would increase the economic contribution of resins for the benefit of the 

poor and for the sustainable development of the forestry sector. 

Whilst the programme has made critical efforts in this regard, the efforts todate are still 

developmental and will require a longer term support programme infrastructure that would 

succeed the CISP. Such an infrastructure must be vertically-integrated including continued 

community-based organizing and enterprise development work, community forest tenure 

arrangements, sustainable NTFP management and monitoring, and market-based 

information and technical support. 

Thus an oleoresin stakeholder forum is proposed in order to bridge the short-term 

developmental efforts supported by the CISP to a more robust and long-term development 

outlook for the NTFP sector. Within the NTFP sector, dipterocarp resins provide the highest 

total economic value for many forest-dependent communities. To a certain extent it is a 

“representative” forest product that speaks to the livelihood of Cambodia’s forest peoples. 

Yet, it has been under-estimated, informally traded and under-valued. The Forum will share 

the CISP partner findings of both the cultural and environmental significance and market 

potential of resins of Cambodia. 

3 BALSAMS are resinous mixtures; may be dissolved or emulsified in oil; more or less fluid; and exhibit a strong specific 

odor. Gurjun balsams is the international trade name of dipterocarp resins. 

6

The Forum was envisaged to gather the stakeholders that will be instrumental in ensuring 

there is a longer-term development outlook for resin development in Cambodia and its 

relevance to the country’s sustainable development and poverty reduction agenda. 

Additionally, this Forum was intended to also help explore prospects for further support to 

the CISP partners, especially the project beneficiaries beyond the CISP project in order to 

fully realize the positive impacts of protecting and managing the forests and also of their 

traditional livelihoods that are dependent on it. 

In particular, the Forum presents a critical opportunity to upscale the community based resin 

enterprises so far established in the pilot provinces (Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear) through a 

framework of pro-poor sustainable resin sector support to be presented and proposed at the 

Forum. 

II. 

Objectives 

• To identify and mobilize the critical and players in Cambodian resin value chain 

• To stimulate critical support to further pro-forest, pro-CBRE (community-based resin 

enterprises) natural resin industry development in Cambodia 

• To assess the interest and the potential for short and long-term investments 

(technical, financial, policy) in the natural resin industry development in Cambodia 

III. 

Expected Results 

• Critical project achievements and results on resin development are presented and 

shared by CISP partners to key stakeholders, including to the CISP Project Steering 

Committee 

• A proposal for further development and support to resin industry development n 

Cambodia is presented and consulted with key stakeholders 

• Key stakeholders review and provide critical perspectives on future steps for resin 

industry development in Cambodia 

• Critical support is committed to furthering resin industry development in Cambodia 

as a pro-poor sustainable economic development strategy 

IV. 

Participants 

Resin community and local authority 

NGOs/International orgs/Private Sector 

Cambodia Government Institutions 

Media 

Total 

18 participants (2 Females) 





V. Forum Programme 

Morning: 

Welcome and Opening Remarks 

Panel Presentation 1: Experiences and Perspectives of the Cambodia NTFP Working Group 

(CNWG) on sustainable oleoresin management and community based oleoresin enterprise 

development 

1. Networking and Capacity-building interventions in Sustainable Resin Management – By 

Mr. Khou Eanghourt, CNWG National Facilitator 

7

2. Resin Enterprise Management: An Important Approach to Management of the 

Eastern Plains Landscape in Cambodia – By Mr. Son Bora and Amy Maling, WWF- 

Cambodia 

3. Sustainable Resin Harvesting and Community-Based Enterprise Development – By 

Mr. Pek Samon, Ponlok Khmer, Preah Vihear province 

Panel Presentation 2: Exploring Diverse Uses and Market Potential of Cambodian 

Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Dipterocarp Balsams 

1. Characterization and End Uses of Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Balsams – By Ms. 

Mariluz San Pedro Dionglay, Senior Science Research Specialist, Technology 

Innovation Division, Forest Products Research Development Institute, Los Banos, the 

Philippines 

2. Integrating Oleoresin Processing from Cambodian Dipterocarps for Community 

based Forest Management : a sharing from Philippines Experience – By Ms. Mildred 

Miranda Fidel, Chief of Division, Technical Services, Forest Products Research 

Development Institute, Los Banos, the Philippines 

3. Cambodian dipterocarp balsams in the regional and international market – By Ms. 

Nola Andaya-Milani, Social Marketing Specialist, Philippines & France 

Afternoon: 

Panel Presentation 3: Exploring Sustainable Forest Enterprise Development Programme 

Opportunities in Cambodia 

1. Cambodian experience in (pro-poor) small-medium industry development: 

building from the ground up: the case of Rattan & Handicrafts Sector – By Mr. Lun 

Yeng, Executive Director, Federation of Associations for Small & Medium Enterprise 

in Cambodia (FASMEC) & General Manager, Daun Penh House 

2. Increasing the Economic Value of Dipterocarp Balsams for Forest Communities in 

Cambodia – By Mr. Tith Seyla, Enterprise Development Officer, NTFP- 

EP/NatureWild 

Critical Perspectives and Recommendations on pro-poor sustainable oleoresin development 

in Cambodia: 

1. Community Representative: Preah Vihear Resin Association 

2. NGO/Environment & Conservation: Mr. Ashish John, Wildlife Conservation Society 

(WCS) 

3. Mr. Ken Sereyrotha Deputy Director-General Department of Administration for 

Nature Conservation & Protection, Ministry of Environment 

Synthesis and Closing Remarks 

VI. 

Proceedings 

Mr. KHOU Eanghourt, National Facilitator of the Cambodia NTFP Working Group and overall 

moderator of the Forum invited all participants to stand for Cambodia’s National Anthem. 

He then welcomed everybody and presented the over-all programme/agenda of the Forum. 

Afterwards, he presented the key speakers for the official Forum Welcome and Opening 

Remarks. 

8

1. Welcome & Opening Remarks 

1.1 Mr. Blaise KILIAN, Joint Program Coordinator, MDG-F Creative Industries Support 

Programme (CISP) 

Blaise briefly welcome the participants and addressed shortly what MDG-F CISP was 

doing in Cambodia. MDG-F CISP has been running in Cambodia for the last three years 

with close partnership and collaboration with four UN agencies and Government 

Ministries. The program was mainly designed and executed to realize the vision that 

culture promotion and preservation should be an important basis for sustainable 

development. The targeted provinces were Ratanakiri, Mundolkiri, Preah Vihear and 

Kampong Thom. The program believed that shared prosperity could indeed only be 

possible if decision-makers and investors first understand and take into account the local 

specificities, the customs, the traditions and even the languages of the local indigenous 

communities in any economic endeavor. Without such an approach, economic expansion 

could not be participative and is therefore to no avail. 

Resin collection is undeniably part of the life and culture of the local people especially the 

indigenous communities. As historic testimonies have shown, indigenous people had 

been traditionally collecting resin along with other Non-Timber Forest Products they 

gathered from the forests to be sold or exchanged with other products when dealing with 

lowlanders. Resin had significantly contributed to the livelihood of the people and it had 

been still high though there were challenges that modernity was introduced to their daily 

environment. Recent researches and NTFP-EP studies had demonstrated that the 

existing market had a strong potential for expansion within Cambodia as well as for 

export. Provided that forest areas remained available and accessible to indigenous 

communities, resin tapping could play a strong role to support the fight against poverty 

and to empower indigenous communities, thus contributing to the overall sustainable 

development of Cambodia. Therefore the meeting today would provoke more discussions 

to seek for guidance or exchange experience for future development of resin industry in 

Cambodia. 

1.2 Ms. Femy PINTO, Cambodia Facilitator, Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange 

Programme (NTFP-EP) for South and Southeast Asia 

The forum focuses the discussion and dialogue around the sustainable industry 

development for oleoresins in Cambodia among the concerned stakeholders. As noted, 

Ms. Femy emphasized that in this, sustainability, and short and long-term benefits will be 

critical questions. Oleoresins are collected year round and provide both cash and 

subsistence benefits for the local forest dependent communities. Local people had long 

practiced the traditional and cultural uses and conserved such resources in their 

sustainable ways. The Forestry Law of Cambodia also recognizes the importance and the 

traditional uses of oleoresins and NTFPs as highlighted in chapter 8, article 29 and 

chapter 9, article 40. 

NTFP-EP is committed to support any aspect of NTFP development. To date, NTFP-EP 

has worked with over 140 community-based enterprises in more than 500 villages in 6 

countries including Cambodia with over 30 community NTFP enterprises in 6 provinces 

being supported and partnered since 2007. NTFP-EP works to enable the institutional 

environment as knowledge intermediary & advocate for forest community rights and 

community-based approaches. 

Ms. Femy strongly emphasized that the forum today is facilitated to generate dialogue 

and knowledge on sustainable oleoresin utilization and commercialization in Cambodia 

among partners, members, donors, experts and villagers. There are some rooms for 

CBREs to develop to its full expansion, but their sustainability is yet to be critically 

debated and the forum provides space for this. 

9

1.3 Mr. LONG Ratanakoma, Deputy Director, Department of Forestry and Community 

Forestry, Forestry Administration 

Mr. Ratanakoma welcomed all participants and warmly noted the green loving feeling of 

all for the protection of the forest and its NTFPs for the local livelihood. This forum was a 

confirmation of everyone’s participation in responding to the achievement of the MDGs 

and the accomplishment of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s development plan. 

Community based natural resources management (CBNRM) approach is needed and 

appropriate as we know people who depend on the forest for their home and livelihood. 

The loss of forests would be a disaster for them directly. CBNRM as an approach is 

effective for the protection and conservation of the forest resources. This is not just in this 

decade, but this has been since the time of our ancestors as indicated on the carvings of 

our temples – showing the love between human and nature. 

The government has approved the National Forestry Program (NFP) to manage such 

unique resources and this will not be successful unless there is participation from 

everyone with common goals and benefits. In the NFP, community forestry – managing 

the resource by communities – is also guaranteed. 430 forestry communities had been 

established since 1996 covering around 370,000 has in Cambodia. The government 

supported the expansion of community forestry to 2 million hectares by 2020. We 

normally undervalue the non-timber forest resources. If we pay close attention to their 

uses on a daily basis by the forest-dependent communities, we realize their vital 

importance in particular also the value of these for women. There is a need for strong 

participation from concerned stakeholders to help support the sustainable forest 

management and resin industry development. Such partnership and collaboration among 

us would help the government to also properly plan the policy and program to promote 

local products and market generated from the forest in a sustainable way. We need a 

long-term plan and encourage good practices for a win-win situation. 

The forum was officially open and a 5 minute video produced by NTFP-EP of the resin 

value chain in Cambodia was shown. The video showed from the resin collection by 

community members from Preah Vihear, to traders and wholesalers in Kampong Thom 

province, and interviews of boat owners who use resin for caulking boats. In community 

interviews, it was described how the resin collection area is managed and how forest 

protection is a vital part of resin management. The economic importance of resins is 

emphasized and the need for support in linking communities to a fair and sustainable 

markets. 

After the morning coffee break, Ms. Femy PINTO opened the first Panel Session and 

introduced the 3 presenters from the Cambodia NTFP Working Group. 

2. Panel Presentation 1: Experiences and Perspectives of the Cambodia NTFP Working 

Group (CNWG) on sustainable oleoresin management and community based oleoresin 

enterprise development 

Moderator: Ms. Femy PINTO, NTFP-EP 

2.1 Presentation on Networking and Capacity-building interventions in Sustainable 

Resin Management” – By Mr. KHOU Eanghourt, CNWG National Facilitator 

Mr. Eanghourt briefed about the Cambodia NTFP Working Group (CNWG). CNWG is an 

alliance of local, regional/international NGOs, private sector and individuals committing 

to work together as a network and to undertake jointly community development and 

conservation programs that were in line with addressing poverty among forest dependent 

communities, deforestation and NTFP degradation, unrecognized economic relevance of 

NTFPs, and land tenure security issues. CNWG is working to 1) promote networking and 

collaboration; 2) provide capacity building and technical assistance to NTFP programs; 3) 

support policy advocacy; 4) mobilize resources; 5) do research, education and 

information dissemination, and 6) monitor the impacts using common indicators. 

10 

10

Moreover, this working group supports community-based organizations (CBOs) and 

enterprise networks. Main NTFPs which are currently in focus were wild honey, sleng, 

rattan and resin. 

He also presented the current status of resin tree management, overview of the resin 

project supported by the MDG-F CISP and recommendations for further management 

and development. As highlighted during the presentation, the most common resin trees 

were Dipterocarp intricatus (local name trach) and Dipterocarp alatus (local name 

Chheuteal Toek). There were two distinct forms of traditional resin ownership, one of 

which is to mark resin tree areas, encompassing many resin tree. The second form of 

ownership is to mark individual resin trees for cutting a hole. Different households could 

own resin trees within the same area. This ownership system is more commonly applied 

in areas where resin trees are scarce. These two systems are widely acceptable among 

villagers in the targeted provinces such as Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear provinces. 

The current management of resin trees is still traditional and is vulnerable to external 

factors/threats. Mr. Eanghourt raised some concerns about the current management of 

resin trees in Cambodia. As observed: 

• There is a concern that the trees fall outside of protected areas and community forest 

thus the community did not have enough rights to protect them in some cases, from 

outsider development such as economic land concessions. 

• There are reports of logging of resin trees by outsiders in the collection areas. 

• There is a lack of effort in seedling and sapling protection from forest fires especially 

in the dry season. 

• There is not yet any initiative for forest enrichment or rehabilitation using resin trees. 

• Unsustainable tapping methods are practiced which result to resin exhaustion or 

declining yields within a short term. 

• There is lack of monitoring of tapping and other resin and forest management 

practices. 

The Resin Project was initiated to increase domestic value-addition of resin products of 

community-based resin enterprise in Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear provinces. The project 

duration was from October 2010 to September 2011 with three main partners: Ponlok 

Khmer in Preah Vihear, My Village International (MVI) and WWF in Mondulkiri. 

Through one-year implementation, the project had achieved great progress, lessons 

learned and recommendations as shortly summarized below: 

Achievements: 

- Workshop in Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear 

provinces to discuss about the current 

tapping practice, its impact and 

improvement; 

- Exchange visit in Preah Vihear provinces by 

bringing together resin tappers from 10 

communities to discuss about sustainable 

resin tapping techniques, covering 12 steps 

- Publication of the guide to sustainable 

collection and management of dipterocarp 

oleoresin or balsams with inclusion of tapping 

techniques and monitoring, and 

- Training and overview to communities in 

Mondulkiri province on Community based 

NTFP enterprise development (CBNE) with 

examples of resin as part of other commercial 

NTFPs. 

Lessons learned: 

- Working as a network/partners among 

NGOs concerned on a particular aspect and 

at the same time is beneficial in terms of 

shared efforts in time, expense, output and 

others; 

- There is a good resin tapping practice within 

the community, but lack of knowledge 

sharing among them; 

- community-shared capacity building is a 

quicker process for learning and more 

effective approach for the community; 

- CBNE/CBRE contributes to livelihood 

development and natural resource 

management for both within and outside 

CFs/CPAs; 

- Customary ownership of resin trees 

complements with sustainable forest 

management, and 

- The CBRE establishment takes time and 

11 

11

needs good facilitation skills due to limited 

knowledge of community, group working 

environment and benefit issues. 

Challenges 

- large resin tree areas fall outside CFs/CPAs, which do not secure customary ownership and 

customary use rights; 

- Informal fee on the road in addition to royalty fee is a major issue for sustainable trade of CBRE. 

- improper resin tapping practice by some collectors which impacts resin quality and long-term 

yield; 

- Poor road conditions in certain areas cause high cost in transportation; 

- Lack of local technical expertise for processing and business development; 

- Insufficient capital resources for the establishment of processing facilities and CBNE; 

Resin by-product development and value addition skills still undeveloped; 

Recommendations 

Policy support 

Sustainability 

Government: 

- Secure customary ownership of resin trees 

both outside and within CFs as stated in 

article 40 of chapter n o 9 in the forestry law; 

- Encourage sustainable/responsible 

commercial-scale resin collection by 

community through reducing or waiving 

royalty fees as mentioned in the article 53 of 

chapter n o 11 in the forestry law; 

- Recognize and support community based 

Resin Enterprise as stated in sub program 2 

of program 4 in the National Forestry 

Program 2010-2029, and 

- Encourage private sector to invest in resin 

sector industry, including for instance 

processing for oil extraction; 

Media: 

- Assist in information dissemination on 

economic value of dipterocarp balsams, its 

contribution to livelihood development and 

forest management through sustainable 

CBRE. 

Government: 

- Help disseminate and promote the use of 

“the guide to sustainable collection and 

management of dipterocarp oleoresin or 

balsams” wherever dipterocarp balsam is 

tapped across the country; 

- Monitor and evaluate resin tapping 

performance by community and make 

corrective comment; 

Community: 

- Apply the guidebook including tapping 

technique and maintenance of tapped resin 

trees and natural growths; 

- Participate in CBNE establishment in order 

to provide for benefits from value-addition 

and contribute to natural resource 

management; 

NGOs and academia: 

- Help facilitate community in resin tree and 

natural resource management; 

- Participate in monitoring and evaluating 

resin tapping performance by community 

and make corrective comment; 

Private sector: 

- Have good cooperation with the above 

stakeholders in regard to information and 

knowledge sharing. 

Financial and Technical Support 

Government: 

- Help community look for fund for CBRE 

establishment and operation ; 

- Integrate CBRE into the commune 

development planning; 

NGOs and academia: 

- Assist in CBRE establishment, capacity 

building on business planning (resource 

assessment, product development and 

Infrastructure 

NGOs, academia and private sector: 

- Assist in facility installment ( storage, filtering 

technique, essential oil extraction and others 

in relation to product processing); 

- Provide training to community how to 

operate facility, package and store product. 

Research 

Government, NGOs and academia: 

- Continue in-depth botanical research of 

12 

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access to market); 

Donor: 

- Secure long term financial support, at least 5 

years, to ensure full function of CBRE by 

community; 

Private sector: 

- Provide fair price to resin tappers/CBRE and 

contribute to natural resource management. 

dipterocarp species to figure out how many 

species are producing dipterocarp balsam; 

- Continue study of new eco-friendly 

technology of resin tapping to minimize 

damage to the trees and sustain resin yield, 

The new technology has to be applicable by 

community and at low cost 

2.2 Presentation on “Sustainable Resin Harvesting and Community-Based Enterprise 

Development” – By Mr. PEK Samon, Ponlok Khmer 

Mr. Samon presented the background of the resin enterprise within his community. Five 

communities were established with around 234 members since 2008. Structure was 

developed to manage each community. He also shared the experiences which mainly 

focused on the tapping techniques including rotating tapping, maintenance of resin trees 

especially in the dry season – preventing them from forest fire, and other procedures for 

quality and market of the resin. Only four out of five communities had adequate capital 

to purchase resin from tappers and they were also trained to manage finance, resin 

inventories, and reporting so that such skills would help them properly in their 

enterprises. In terms of benefit sharing, the internal regulations were set to divide 

income from resin selling into 30% for community committee, 35% for reinvesting 

capital, 20% for social (community) fund, 10% for administrative work, 13% for 

purchasing the resin from tappers, and the last 2% for any members who sold the most 

resin to the community. There were also some challenges facing the communities. Mr. 

Samon shared that 1) some members mixed other substance into the resin as they 

learned from others; 2) the market prices were unstable; 3) the supply was yet little and 

could not meet the market demand; 4) there was resin tree logging from outsiders; 5) 

there was lack of appropriate management of the resin trees; 6) there was inadequate 

budget to purchase resin from tappers; and 7) there was not enough transporting 

facilities and unstable markets. There is a need for continuing support to the 

communities for their community enterprise. 

2.3 Presentation on “Resin Enterprise Management: An Important Approach to 

Management of the Eastern Plains Landscape in Cambodia” – by Mr. SON Bora, WWF 

Mr. Bora presented the experiences from the community resin enterprise in Mondulkiri 

province. The Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL) project covered 19,726 ha resin areas with 

46,540 resin trees owned by 150 families. The average ownership was 310 trees per 

family. The vision of the project was to keep Cambodian wilderness intact and 

connected, helping people protect their wildlife while sustaining livelihoods. To realize 

such vision, the project aimed at promoting sustainable harvesting of resin and 

protection of resin trees habitats; protecting forests where resin trees grow; improving 

economic benefits to resin collectors; and providing inputs to the development of policies 

supporting resin processing, marketing, and resin area management. These were done 

through capacity building including study tour on resin techniques and sustainable 

harvesting, business management, community-based NTFP enterprises (CBNEs), and 

internal control system (ICS). On the other hand, through the implementation of this 

project, experiences had been explored to determine the key success for such enterprise. 

There are needs identified for 1) good community participation, 2) clear resin area 

mapping, 3) relevant institutional support to the resin communities, and 4) better 

tapping methods. Besides such needs, communities face other challenges such as 

inaccessible transportation of resin, forest fires threaten resin trees, the resin 

groups/communities still operate unofficially; they do not have legal recognition, , and 

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they face land and forest encroachment. Finally, Mr. Bora proposed some 

recommendations to gather policy support for resin enterprises which would benefit the 

local communities in the longer term. 

Question and Answer Session 

Ms. Femy PINTO invited three (3) questions and comments from the participants. 

Mr. LIC Vuthy, consultant to UNIDO: We need to think beyond the problems or issues 

that have been raised. We need to think of longer term sustainability and so need to also 

think beyond mapping and marking the resin trees. For example, we need to teach 

people to cultivate seedlings, if the villager grows resin trees, this can help promote their 

ownership and no one could take over many trees that they plant. 

Mr. LONG Ratanakoma, Forestry Administration: What are the factors that are critical 

to the success of community resin enterprises What makes CBREs successful 

Response from SON Bora: We worked for resin management in Mondukriri since 2010 

and we are not much experienced yet but we could share our experience and 

perspectives. To be successful, we needed to 1) map the area, 2) form group with clear 

guideline and structure, 3) conserve the trees, apply appropriate tapping methods, and 

plant the seedlings. 

Response from PEK Samon : We had to build partnership among the resin group 

members as we have our structures including leaders, member, buyer and sellers. They 

need to collaborate and collect the information on market price from the middlemen. If 

they fail, the community would fail. We should negotiate with buyers for instance 1barrel 

(30liters) = 80,000 riels and the prices should be made the same with others. Thus so far 

we had bad experience with the prices. We need to work with private sector on pricing. 

Besides, we need to manage our trees through: 

• tapping properly based on methods (less 50cm) is not allowed to be tapped (more 

than 50cm-170cm was ok) 

• burning and collect (not exceeded 1-2 minutes, more than this the resin quality will 

not be good) 

• sapling/seedling – communities needed to protect the sapling/seedlings within the 

collection area, making sure also that they are safe from forest fires 

• marking or labeling the resin trees in order to be recognized by the local authorities 

and making clear the ownership of the trees by the community members themselves 

Mr. OUM Sony , Fauna & Flora International, questions to SON Bora: 

1. What are the guidelines adopted for resin management within the protected area Is 

the community landscape management plan similar to the resin management plan Are 

the management guidelines similar 

2. Regarding mapping of the resin collection areas and designation of the collection 

area, how is this done What do you do 

Response from SON Bora: Now we form group in the community protected area and 

community protected forest. A resin group structure is formed within the CPA and CPF 

and the structure is clear and already recognized by the local authority. Most of CPA and 

CPF members are members of the resin groups. 

On the question about mapping, the resin trees are identified and located within the 

protected area and protected forest, whether they are in the buffer zone, core zone or 

transition zone. We cannot isolate them from the core zone, but we need to determine 

which trees are in and out of the core zone and even determine how many are in or out. 

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We need to be considerate of community livelihoods otherwise there will be conflict 

between the conservation and community development objectives. 

Ms. Femy PINTO summed up the session to have drawn specific examples of the 

interventions to support and promote community resin enterprise development in 

Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear provinces. These interventions are located in protected 

areas, protected forest and community forestry whereby the objectives of forest 

protection and sustainable forest and resin management are complementary and 

fundamental also to the community resin enterprise approach and implementation. The 

practice of sustainable resin tapping and monitoring are critical and specific techniques 

and good practices have been consolidated and consulted through a participatory 

process. The recommendation is that these guidelines are widely disseminated. 

Furthermore basic steps and activities are described in what goes into the CBREs. 

Mr. CHEA Bunheang, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Commerce requested to provide 

key comments and observations. He requested that hand-outs for the first two 

presentations be provided. He further recommended and requested to disseminate more 

information about NTFPs as they are indeed special products. Resin trees are protected 

by law and communities can seek for local and ASEAN markets, including markets in 

ASEAN+3 and ASEAN in Europe have potential too. 

Resin tree destruction has been linked to powerful people and military. It is 

recommended to exclude these comments from presentations if there is no clear 

evidence to support these claims. 

Nevertheless, for the presenter from Preah Vihear, we encourage to help promote resin 

to the government as one among the critical/special goods with potential for export. 

Mr. KHOU, Eanghourt, over-all forum Moderator, thanked Mr. Bunheang for his 

comments and recommendations and agreed that collaboration with the NGOs and the 

Ministry of Commerce or the government in general is critical and good for the people 

and development in Cambodia. He agreed that Mr.Bunheang’s suggestions and 

observations must be taken into account. 

3. Panel Presentation 2: Exploring Diverse Uses and Market Potential of Cambodian 

Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Dipterocarp Balsams 

Moderator: Neil Patterson, My Village 

3.1 Presentation on “Characterization and End-Uses of Dipterocarp Oleoresins” – by 

Ms. Mariliz San Pedro Dionglay, Forest Products Research & Development Institute 

(FPRDI), College, Laguna Philippines 

Ms. Mariliuz started with a key question why we have to understand the characteristics 

of such resin. The importance is that resins can be marketed easily and be highly valued, 

if its physico-chemical properties are understood. Through this also, its possible enduses 

and market value can also be determined. Ms. Mariluz conducted an analysis of 

oleoresin samples from Cambodia per request of NTFP-EP. The analysis included the 

determination of the physical properties and characteristics of the oleoresins and a 

determination if whether it can be refined or extracted for further uses. FPRDI used 

different techniques, instruments and types of analysis to be able to provide a reasonable 

characterization of the oleoresins (d. alatus and d.intricatus). A quick summary of the 

findings are described below: 

Physical properties 

• Consistency: Slightly 

viscous 

• Color: Brownish 

Dipterocarp liquid resin: 

• Can be classified as Balsams 

• Dissolved or emulsified in 

ethereal oil 

Saponification number 

• Based on the result, the 

liquid resin samples are 

short length/small molecules 

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• Odor: Distinct odor • Fluid and exhibits a strong 

specific odor 

• D. alatus (gravity – 0.977 Ash content (measures 

+ 0.003 and pH – 5.91) inorganic contents) 

• D. intricatus (gravity – • No residues were found in 

0.959 + 0.002 and pH – D. alatus and D. intricatus 

5.04) 

liquid resins 

• The samples are volatiles 

• They do not contain 

inorganic matters. 

FTIR analysis 

• Fourier Transformed Infrared 

Spectrophotometer 

(Shimadzu IR Prestige-21) 

was used. 

• Spectra shown below 

show both liquid resins 

have similar functional 

groups present. 

• C=O band in the region 

1760-1665 cm-1 indicates 

the presence of ketones 

and esters typical for 

oleoresins. 

• The band in the 3074cm-1 

indicates double bonds 

for alkenes 

• Literatures says 

dipterocarpus resin has 

essential oils 

• Hydrodistillation (steam) can 

separate essential oils from 

organic materials 

compared to almaciga resins 

from the Philippines 

Iodine number 

• Problems were encountered 

during the analysis 

• This analysis tells us 

saturation or unsaturation of 

organic matters (presence of 

double bonds) 

Through hydrodistillation 

method, contents were found: 

• Hydrodistilled oil – 80% 

from the liquid resins 

Hydrodistilled resin – 18- 

21% from the liquid resin 

Ms. Mariluz shortly concluded that both d.alatus and d. intricatus liquid resin samples 

contained similar physico-chemical properties. Both liquid resins are slightly viscous, 

brown in color and exhibits distinct odor. The specific gravity is less than that of water 

hence will float in water. pH values shows they are acidic. No inorganic component was 

found in the liquid resins. Moreover, saponification values indicate the liquid resins are 

small molecules. FTIR analysis showed functional groups present are typical for 

oleoresins containing ketones and esters. The major component of the liquid resin is oil 

which is 79-83%. The hydrodistilled resin content of the liquid resin is 12-20%. The 

hydrodistilled oil has bioactivity against A. niger and T. versicolor. Varnish prepared 

from the hydrodistilled resin is classified as semi-gloss and drying time of 10 minutes. 

She also proposed some recommendations for possible end-uses of oleoresins which 

hydrodistilled oil can be utilized as component for making bath soap, moisturizing 

lotions and liniments, while hydrodistilled resin can be further produced as tackifiers 

and varnish. 

3.2 Presentation on “Integrating Oleoresin Processing for Community-Based Forest 

Management: A Sharing from the Philippines Experience” – by Ms. Mildred M. Fidel, 

FPRDI, College, Laguna, Philippines 

This is another experience from the Philippines especially on the technology for crude 

almaciga resin refinery, and the social and industrial aspects relevant in future oleoresin 

industry development. One of the key aspects is to understand the engagement of private 

sector in promoting such industry. Ms. FIDEL gave a brief overview of the Philippines’ 

most common resin – known as Manila Copal (agathis Philippinensis Warb.) or locally 

known as Almaciga. Crude Manila Copal has low quality due to dirt. A considerable 

amount of impurities such as bits of bark, twigs, stones, soil, clay, and other foreign 

matters contaminate the resin during resin gathering by tapping method. The presence 

of dirt reduces the market value of crude M. Copal by as much as 80%, as its quality 

depends on its cleanliness, alcohol solubility and color. 

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The initial support from FPRDI is to increase the commercial value and industrial 

applications of Manila Copal through improving resin quality, and also to produce higher 

value added products from Manila Copal. The refinery process starts from the collecting 

of the crude resin through providing the technical capacity of tapping techniques to 

tappers until the resin is processed or refined which it can be further chemically 

modified in large-scale into paper size, varnish resin or cation exchanger. 

Moreover, she also highlighted the brief refining process and various methods employed. 

Besides presenting the technical information, she discussed some factors to consider for 

investing in oleoresin enterprise development. Three main aspects to bear in mind once 

investing in such enterprise are 1) technical, 2) market and 3) finance. For the technical 

aspects, we need to be fully aware of 1) production/ process/ performance efficiency, 2) 

product life circle, 3) process acceptability, 4) certainty of supply, 5) potential for 

development and last 6) waste generated and management. For the same position, 

supply/demand ratio, product acceptability, competitive position (i.e. market share), 

potential market and market sustainability are all essential components for market 

strategy and development. 

Last but not least, finance is a core part of all business. Things to consider carefully are 

profitability, capacity to pay and reasonable cost. These factors help whether the 

enterprise will succeed or fail if they are not properly understood or managed. 

There are also some, as seen in external supports from the government in terms of policy 

and finance, and from the community in regards of raw material sustainability. 

Regulation should serve the common benefit for all and financial assistance should also 

be provided to ensure their functionality and the maximum gains. While communities 

help ensure the material flow timely for the production. On the other hand, benefits can 

be derived from such enterprise for instance increasing income through employment for 

local peoples. For macro scale, resin enterprise helps produce national revenue through 

sales and taxes and import and export substitutions. 

Ms FIDEL further emphasized that there was a strong need for private sector 

engagement in accelerating the growth of this enterprise. But again, why there is such a 

need. She addressed that there were gaps and they could be fulfilled by the private 

sector. In terms of marketing skills, it is seen that private investors are best in providing 

market access if compared to other key players. Due to the large amount of capital 

needed for the start-up which especially tappers cannot afford, the private investors are 

more capable in initiating the start. Moreover, the production system is techno-based 

and there is an increasing demand for technology intervention or updating. Then again 

private investors with intensive capital can introduce this or share with the local 

enterprises who have limited capacity and resources. Management and organizational 

skills to properly manage the enterprises are not fully trained or transferred to local 

tappers or entrepreneurs so that they are able to sustainably manage their business. 

These are the critical challenges for tappers and local entrepreneurs once entering into 

the Oleoresin industry, and of course the involvement of the private sector is typically 

crucial to ensure the success. Ms. FIDEL noted however that the level of complexity and 

sophistication in the inputs also depends on the particular product to be commercialized. 

Some experience and lessons are also shared during her presentation. For the 

communities to capture investments there must exist a strong tri-sectoral partnership 

among key players (i.e. government, investor/businessman, and community/civil 

society) and this is crucial in sustainable forest management. Sustainable development 

in natural tropical forests is often approached from an economic perspective. However, it 

cannot remain solely as an economic activity even if the ultimate goal is to increase 

income & resource productivity. If it does, then it is certain that the goal will fail. To 

succeed, those involved in sustainable forest management for community development 

have to address other dimensions of development in addition to the economic, like 

political, cultural, ideological, ecological, among others. 

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3.3 Presentation on “Dipterocarpus Resin in the International Market: A Market Scan” 

– by Ms. Nola ANDAYA, NTFP Marketing Specialist/Consultant, NTFP-EP 

Ms. Nola focused on two important market issues. They are about the current market of 

resin: Essential Oils and Gurjun Balsam, the trade name of oleoresins from diptercarpus 

spp, and the quick scan of potential markets based on current applications of general 

essential oil industry and potential uses based on the results provided by the FPRDI test 

and other existing studies and market uses. The global market for resin in 2010 was 

about 748,168,000 USD which was approximately 17% increase from the previous year 

with top exporters in Asia are India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Lao and Vietnam. 

The global top exporters are France, USA, Germany, UK, Italy, Netherland, Singapore 

and Japan. The resin from Asia comes to EU through France and Germany with imports 

from Singapore and Thailand. 

The main known industries that absorb resin supplies are painting & coating, adhesives, 

pharmaceutical, cosmetic products and incense, art supplies. Market is said to increase 

at low rates due to no new applications of materials. But with supplies dwindling and 

markets for natural composites growing, demand is expected to increase. Various 

industries are absorbing Essential Oil in a number of volumes and percentages. Its 

economic values are 650 m USD in Fragrance, 250m USD in Aromatherapy, 220m USD 

in Pharmaceutical, 150m USD in Agro-Chemicals, 120m USD in Intermediates and 90m 

USD in Cosmetics respectively. By 2010, the total export of Essential Oil was 2.9 billion 

USD with production increases from 8-10% per year due to new products requiring 

flavor/fragrance as well as demand for more natural products. 

The Gurjun Balsams is produced at 50-100 tons per year and only top 100 of 300 

essential oils are traded in the market. The main use of such oil is perfumery. India and 

France are the main supplying countries. The average price is from 21USD to 30 USD per 

kilogram for the essential oil. Studies have confirmed that markets for such oil exist and 

becoming very potential in Fragrance (perfume and home), Pharmaceutical and 

Cosmeceuticals, Aromatherapy and well-being, Plant protection products/Agro- 

Chemical, Green Construction Materials and Fine Arts. 

Whether as oleoresin or as separate essential oil and resins, the dipterocarpus spp. 

resins are important ingredients to many industries. Further research on the properties 

of the Cambodian Dipterocarpus oleoresin and product development needs to be done in 

order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the market. As Essential Oils are 

affected by different factors, a pilot to test the Essential Oil from Cambodian 

dipterocarpus spp. oleoresin in the market is needed. Market offers different segments 

that can accommodate a sustainable volume of production. 

Question and Answer Session 

Mr. Blaise KILIAN, CISP: What kind of investment is necessary in Cambodia and can be 

provided in order to adequately engage in the market 

Response from Ms. Nola ANDAYA: We can target market niches. For example, instead 

of just selling the raw resin, applying a simple filtering method to improve the quality of 

the resin can demand a higher price for the resin. It is also important to note that our 

resin quality also depends on the tapping techniques so improving this is an important 

first step towards an international market.. We need also to partner with other agencies 

or NGOs who can assist us in producing the final products from resin. In the case of 

biopesticides, it is a growing market both local and regionally. Collaboration with 

university/research institutions, government or private sector would help us tap markets 

for such products. 

Mr.CHEA Bunheang, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Commerce have 3 questions. 

The first is for the 1 st presentor; FTIR analysis is a good method. Is it possible to 

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collaborate with CAMCONTROL to help analyze our products for export to 

regional/international markets Can FPRDI provide capacity-building Second 

question is have you had experience or provided training to agencies for export to 

ASEAN The 3 rd question is addressed to the 3 rd speaker. Did you study how Cambodia 

has exported the resin products Is it by land, sea or air Which way has it been 

transported the most and what has been the challenges in exporting 

Response from Ms. Mariluz DIONGLAY on 1 st question: 

CAMCONTROL with the analysis. 

Yes it is possible to help 

Response from Ms. Mildred FIDEL on 2 nd question: Cooperation for technical 

assistance and capacity building is possible. My suggestion is to work under a joint 

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for oleoresins and FPRDI can help with this. 

FPRDI also provides training to the tappers – simplifying the scientific methods for 

tappers and recommending practical methods for them so that they can share with the 

community leaders through further trainings, or seminars. The primary product of 

Balsam is oil through distillation and filtration. So I suggest to seek the market for your 

oil first and the team has to control the quality – you need to put up facilities to maintain 

the quality and the refined resin. 

Response from Ms. Nola ANDAYA on 3 rd question: Unfortunately I do not have the 

specific information on the mode of transport of oleoresins. That specific information is 

not provided in the trade reports and statistics. 

Mr. LIP Cheang from Cambodia Rattan Association (CRA): Cambodia has good 

potential due to resin resources. Does the government plan to produce resin as a final 

product to be exported oversea for more national revenues Do we have any plan to use 

it to the best of our knowledge to gain more benefits 

Mr.Neil PATERSON, the Moderator, indicated that this is a question that could be 

directed towards some of the participants so hopefully there will be more discussion and 

a response on this in the next sessions. He then thanked all the resource speakers for 

providing substantial information about the specific characteristics of Cambodian 

oleoresins that are relevant for commercialization, the technology and experiences that 

can be applied and also highly useful international market information. 

4. Panel Presentation 3: Exploring Sustainable Forest Enterprise Development 

Programme Opportunities in Cambodia 

Moderator: Mr. KHOU Eanghourt, CNWG 

4.1 Presentation on “Development and Promotion of Small & Medium Enterprises 

(SMEs) in Cambodia” by Mr. LUN Yeng, Executive Director, FASMEC 

Small-medium enterprisese or SMEs are very important for Cambodia development 

especially today. It is also important to understand their current challenges. In 

Cambodia, Mr. Yeng noted that there are 376,761 SMEs absorbing around 1.4 million 

labor force (people). They cover agriculture, services, handicraft, and other enterprises. 

Mr. Yeng pointed three key challenges facing SMEs, namely operation, finance, and legal 

and taxation. For operations, many SMEs are experiencing at least five out of the seven 

challenges. Low productivity, high production cost, lack of entrepreneur skills, human 

resources, information technology, market information, information on efficient and low 

cost machinery. These issues are downgrading SMEs and many of them face serious 

issues in these areas. For finance, as it is core for any business, the obstacles are: the 

limited access to (long-term) credits with low interest rates, inadequate capital for 

expanding the business and collateral to pledge for more credits, and finally small loans 

and high service fees. Likely our resin industry would face the same or similar situation. 

Moreover, many SMEs complain that registration to be more formal remains limited due 

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to complicated procedures and high cost. There is a need to overcome such barriers to 

accelerate the growth of SMEs as they are generating profits and benefits for individuals 

and the country as a whole. With such concerns, during the presentation, he highlighted 

some recommendations especially for the government. They are: 

1. Encourage the development of SMEs, 

especially through the provision of 

medium and long term finance; 

2. Suppress smuggling; 

3. Reduce registration procedures and 

start-up processes for companies; 

4. Facilitate export- import activities by 

simplifying procedures such as licensing 

and other letters of permission, 

5. Support for newly-established industries 

for an appropriate period; 

6. Promote linkages between SMEs and 

large enterprises; 

7. Establish a national center for 

productivity to assist SMEs to enhance 

their productivity and reduce production 

costs; 

8. Establish a national standards institution to 

help ensure the quality of domestic products 

to meet regional and international standards; 

9. Establish national laboratories for physics, 

chemistry, micro-biology, mechanics and 

tests for quality and criteria of products; 

10. Strengthen mechanisms for the protection of 

industrial intellectual property rights, to 

prevent illegal copying, re- creation and 

illegal use of new techniques and technology; 

11. Promote vocational/skills training, both 

domestic and overseas; 

12. Expand and accelerate the "one village, one 

product" program; and 

13. Strengthen the legal framework by creating 

laws on concerns such as: factories, industrial 

zones, patents and inventions, measurements 

and industrial safety. 

To elaborate more, Mr. Yeng presented the case of Rattan Handicraft SME development 

to further understand the value chain, challenges faced, and the intervention to achieve 

the goal of the project. Similarly, this project experiences the same barriers as mentioned 

above, however, the remarkable interventions should not be overlooked. To succeed, a 

pro-poor strategy was developed. Three main objectives were 1) to increase income at 

village level, 2) to increase income at SME level and 3) to engage at policy level. Some 

relevant activities to accomplish these are training the harvesters in sustainable 

harvesting techniques, handicraft process, and the establishment of village enterprise. 

Others are promoting awareness, applying for certificates, engaging policy-makers to 

adopt policies to sustain rattan industry and increasing financial and exporting 

opportunities. These have increased income at village level through improved raw 

material availability and finished products sales. Also there is increasing demand at SME 

level through improved products, certification, and linkages with new buyers leading to 

increased income at SME level and more chances that village level will also profit from 

this as SME level will need to work more closely with the village level. 

4.2 Presentation on “Increasing the Economic Value of Dipterocarp Balsams for Forest 

Communities in Cambodia” by Mr. TITH Seyla, NatureWild 

This was a very interesting presentation from Mr. Seyla. He highlighted the economic 

values of Dipterocarp Balsams in Cambodia and also a future design for sustainable 

forest enterprise program. The estimated production of resin is from 11,000 tons – 

18,000 tons annually which is around 100,000 people depending entirely on resin 

collection. Various studies (including CDRI in 2003 and NTFP-EP in 2009) confirm that 

such small enterprises have contributed 350USD per annum per household. The most 

active provinces for resin tapping are Preah Vihear, Kampong Thom, Mondulkiri, Kratie, 

Stung Treng, Pursat, Koh Kong, Oddar Meanchey and Ratankiri. More than 2 million 

people are deriving both direct and indirect benefits from the resin trees within their 

territories. Moreover, the CISP in 2010 confirmed that the total demand for resin in 

Cambodia was from 4,000 – 6,000 tons per annum and in terms of economic values 

generated as tax was from 0.85-1.5 million USD per annum. Prom (2011) as quoted 

indicated that most of Cambodian resin was exported to Vietnam, Thailand and Laos 

with an annual volume from 8,000 – 14,000 tons whose value was around 10 million 

USD. On the other hand, the value chain for Dipterocarp Balsams was interesting to 

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explore as benefits could be generated from the chain and key actors. Three main stages 

were discussed as 1) resin is tapped and collected by the villagers, 2) it is consolidated, 

filtered, and packaged, and finally 3) it is commercially traded in the market. Again the 

important factors are the resin quality (i.e. which mainly depends on the tapping 

techniques), and the market niches. 

Clearly understanding the gaps, the Sustainable Forest Enterprise Programme is 

designed to intervene to bring more value addition while at the same time conserve 

forest resources and cultural heritage. Then resin industry development willl be the entry 

point for the programme. It is initially targeted in two provinces: Preah Vihear and 

Mundolkiri with further expansion to Kampong Thom and other active resin producing 

provinces. Four main components were programmed to 1) strengthen the existing 10 

Community-Based Resin Enterprises (CBREs) in Mundolkiri and Preah Vihear and other 

new piloting enterprises, 2) process Dipterocarp Balsams, 3) trade, market and export 

resin, and 4) provide outreach and upscale the enterprises. Specific activities were also 

proposed to accelerate and achieve these four. With such professional design, the 

expected impacts were: 

1. Improved transparency, accountability 

and organizational performance of the 

10 CBREs ⇒ increased CBREs’ activity 

and profit. 

2. Greater quality of resin resulted from 

the implementation of the guideline 

(best-practices) ⇒ Over 50% increase in 

selling price. 

3. Overall economic well-being of resin 

tappers: from less than 500 

USD/annum/tapper to more than 1,000 

USD/annum/tapper. 

4. Improved communities’ knowledge in 

technology related to their resin – our 

resin. 

5. Create a lot of employment opportunity 

in the communities resulted from the 

filtering activity, distillation activity and 

potential finished product processing. 

6. Public and legal recognition of the 

environmental, cultural and economic 

importance of Cambodian resin. 

7. Resin well known for its high value 

addition in multiple industries. 

8. Fostered forest conservation. 

After the 2 presentations, Mr. Eanghourt emphasized that resin is very economically 

vibrant though the processing and its quality were not yet widely recognized, but it 

generates income for people and the nation. The most common use in Cambodia was 

boat caulking and its residue could be converted or reprocessed into souvenirs or other 

decorative crafts. The future potential is to produce oil from resin and varnish if there 

were possible efforts for such processing and value addition. Mr. Seyla’s presentation 

points to a future plan for CBREs development in Cambodia. The value is to increase 

livelihood and contribute to protect the natural resources. Mr.Eanghourt concluded that 

the positive impacts from this initiative (CBREs) is value-added, protection of resource, 

economic growth and the lifting of Cambodia profile in the region as Singapore and 

Thailand who are emerging exporters though they import resources from countries 

including Cambodia. 

Comments and Question & Answer Session 

Comments Mr. CHEA Bunheang, Ministry of Commerce: 

1. To Mr. Lun Yeng from FASMEC: Mr. Yeng’s presentation emphasized that the 

procedure for SME registration was complicated. Mr. Bunheang provides a different 

thought, but does not challenge the presenter. Mr. Bunheang shares that for 

registration for small scale enterprises, there is no need to go to the Ministry of 

Commerce (MoC). Applicants can go to the Department of Commerce in their 

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province or location. There is no complicated system. Applicants could meet and 

discuss with the staff easily. For export, Mr. Bunheang suggests applicants come to 

MoC and the process is not that difficult either. On the other hand, he expressed 

disappointment that he is shortly informed about this forum, or he could prepare a 

presentation to share also about such SME issues in Cambodia. He expects a slot for 

the next forum. 

2. He further shared that the government has facilitated the export by reducing the 

requirements from 28 points to only 8 points now. The government also provides 

guidance or consultation for any exporters for instance procedures for export GPS or 

which department applicants should go and consult in case of export to EU. There is 

now clear provisions and this is not difficult anymore. Onward, from 1 st January 2017, 

all relevant exporters to EU (around 45 countries) do not need to request CO 

(Certificate of Origin). They could contact their partners in EU directly and trade with 

them. They just report to MoC for their communication so that MoC could help or 

intervene to ensure the smooth process and help with other diplomatic works with 

government representatives there. He expects that the presenter and participants 

could revise their thoughts and rethink this idea. Again, he confirms that everyone 

does not have to obtain complicated thinking for export in Cambodia. This is the old 

story and it is not valid now. 

Response from Mr. LUN Yeng: He thanked Mr. Bunheang for the informative sharing 

and response that exporters go to the MoC for only one thing, but they have to go to 

many other relevant agencies including MAFF, for instance in the case of rattan. Mr. 

Yeng picks up the Sub-degree 209 which requires rattan for registration for export 

and thus the process is such time-consuming and technical. He agrees that there are 

supports from the government, however; people find it still complicated as they have 

to fill the application themselves – no one helps with such application – thus it takes 

time and more costs. 

Mr. Sam Chanthy, Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI): Can we have a one-stop 

service 

Mr. CHEA Bunheang: It has been for 5 years already for such service and for instance 

now in Battambang province is well exercising this. Siem Reap and 8 SSEZs are also 

more active. Also there is such service in Banteay Meanchey and Poipet to help 

smoothen the process for any investment at the border. From 2017 there is no CO 

requirement. Exporters can go ahead with their partners. 

5. Critical Perspectives and Recommendations for Pro-poor and Sustainable Oleoresin 

Industry Development in Cambodia 

Moderator: Ms. Femy PINTO, Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme 

(NTFP-EP) for South and Southeast Asia 

The following speakers were invited to provide their reactions and recommendations 

freely based on the presentations and discussions of the day. The speakers are from 

different relevant stakeholder groups for resin industry development. 

5.1 Speaker 1, Mr. KEN Sereyrotha, Deputy Director General Administration for 

Nature Conservation and Protection, Ministry of Environment: Community is the eyes 

and ears for natural resources management and mismanagement/mis-use, For example 

they can keep close watch/close monitoring of environmental crimes and they are the 

key agents for development in protected areas. People have intensive knowledge on 

forest, ecosystem and their surrounding environment and this knowledge is recognized 

by the Ministry as a basis for protected areas development. While this knowledge may 

not be scientific, but they contribute significantly to the scientific discovery. The 

government has supported the establishment of community protected areas (CPAs) 

whose their ecological forests survive millions of people. He does not go further, but 

22 

22

invites at least three comments or questions on support for sustainable forest 

management. 

Ms. Femy PINTO noted that in the earlier presentations that some of the resin 

community groups are already in the protected area. One of the challenges is that they 

are not officially recognized though they have identified their clear structure and rules, 

and yet they are not yet recognized by the government. What could be the information or 

procedures that are required in order to help them be recognized For instance 150 

families are currently benefiting from the resin collection activites in around 1,900 ha in 

Phnom Prech Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province. 

Mr. KEN Sereyrotha responded that he admits that he has not much been aware of the 

existing group in this protected area. But he recognizes that such informal institution is 

important for resin collection in both Environment and Forestry Administration’s zones. 

To response, for MoE to recognize the group is not that difficult. People have to form this 

group and set rules and request to Protected Area Administration through the director of 

this Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. The establishment of new body is not that easy to 

respond to such an issue. The 150 families need to show the government that they are 

able to manage themselves. They can contact the Protected Area Unit and work this out 

quickly. The recognition helps protect the biodiversity in the areas and also encourage 

the local people to conserve the resources. Through Mr. Bora as presenter here and with 

government support, Mr. Rotha believe the issues can be addressed effectively. 

Mr. KHOU Eanghourt, CNWGt: CPA encourages the sustainability and protection of 

their resources. But the law requires not doing any business out of those resources. Due 

to the social and economic constraints, local people trade them commercially. Though 

the law does not allow, but he observes that the MoE has allowed and accepted this. Is 

there any possibility to have it stated in the law that business is allowed, not like informal 

or verbal situation today 

Mr. KEN Sereyrotha: It is good to regulate the utilization of resources at household scale 

as it is the only start-up. If the community desires to use it commercially, the MoE would 

accept it though: 

 

 

 

Communities themselves show the purposes of shifting from domestic to 

commercial uses and need to confirm that it is doable i.e. clearly indicate that they 

have adequate capacity or supplies to the markets. 

The quality of the supply by community scale is also feasible i.e. community needs 

to develop and identify the market strategy, and benefit sharing protocol (not for 

only a small number of families but as a whole). He urges that everyone needs to 

understand that this society is complex and quite often divided by parties or groups 

who are more individualistic or opportunistic. It is essential to be aware of the 

opportunists – making uses of everyone’s honest efforts and advantages. 

If there is only single community in Phnom Prich desiring such scheme, then Mr. 

Rotha believes that amendment to the law is impossible. He suggests having a 

collective voice and benefits. MoE is working on the assessment of the protected 

areas to see such potential and issues too. MoE is also thinking of practicing the 

Carbon Credit in the protected areas, and then MoE will discuss how they can 

share the benefits among the key players. MoE is preparing the project to 

understand the field background to see how they can set it up. If the resin is better 

marketed and then MoE can integrate this into their planning. 

Mr. Ashish JOHN, WCS: CPA guidelines are effective and recognized only in the 

CPA areas but the reality is that their resin trees are out of the CPA (normally 7km 

away), can you help explain this and how this can be better resolved 

Mr. KEN Sereyrotha: The issue of updates of CPA is to legalize the CPA so that MoE can 

discuss on resin trees which are mostly out of CPA. When there is a discussion on the 

23 

23

formation of CA, it should be decided by MoE based on some criteria. For instance if 

there are 100 families and want to manage 9,000 ha, the MoE would not allow. The 

community needs to justify themselves and the MoE needs further justification to 

respond to the government too. MoE is in the middle as the community demands more 

and MoE has no clear reason to claim to the government. He says he can even write a 

report stating that the trees are scattered everywhere, but this does not help. MoE 

doesn’t want the community to manage too much land with incapability and then it will 

be taken away in the end. He addresses that when his department has chances to make 

some changes in the Protected Area Law, his department will consider the areas that are 

out of CPA where there are resin trees for people. But he confirms that there is a need to 

ensure that this does not happen in the Core Zone. Normally the resin trees are mostly 

located in the core zone. He again emphasizes the he is not saying on behalf of the MoE, 

but as technical expert only. 

His last conclusion is that the formation of SMEs is very important as from protected 

area perspective and this would help such rattan or medicinal plants association. 

Because it helps improve the living standard of the local people who derive the benefits 

from the forest or resources both directly and indirectly, there is a need to carefully 

develop this. He hopes that local people would become the eyes and help further protect 

those forests. They are not blamed for any destruction of the resource, but they are the 

owners and savers instead. 

He requests everyone or other relevant parties to enhance the capacity of the community 

and make the benefits out of these resources at national scale and help them build the 

network among themselves. One of the areas he is doing his research is in Siem Reap 

where people collect honey for only once a year, but once they are networked with others 

they learn the experiences and now they can harvest them for twice or three times per 

year. 

He confirms that communities have to claim their capacity to do it and of course they can 

do it. There is a need to work together and share the experience rather than going to the 

wrong guys and complain or depend on the third party without any bilateral talk. He 

believes that everyone can work together and unless they are not in common, then it is 

time for everyone to seek help from others. 

5.2 Speaker 2, Mr. PROM Sourng from Preah Vihear Resin Association: He mentions 

that the small scale resin business in his community involves 544 families – 2,236 

peoples with 1,147 females. The actual resin collectors are 650 families who own 78,836 

resin trees. Mr. Sourng points out that his indigenous community is happy with the 

support from the NGO partners for their food security and poverty reduction. 

5.3 Speaker 3, Mr. Ashish JOHN from WCS: Mr. Ashish informs that WCS is working 

in Preah Vihear province and he observes that resin trees are outside the CPAs. His team 

together with communities map the areas by using GPS and hire villagers for 

80USD/month to mark one resin tree for 1$ for each tree in a month. About 200 trees a 

month are marked. WCS needs help from community and especially help from villagers. 

Their help would prove to the local authority for their ownership and recognition as he 

emphasizes. 

There were no other perspectives and recommendations shared from other participants. 

Ms. Femy thanked the invited speakers for their comments. In particular, Mr. KEN 

Sereyrotha’s time and perspectives are appreciated. His suggestions will be followed up 

in particular the development of the protected areas guidelines or prakas will be an 

avenue for engagement. The experience of the resin groups and questions outlined today 

can be taken up during the prakas development process. 

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VII. 

Synthesis and Closing remarks 

Mr. KHOU Eanghourt, over-all Forum Moderator, invited Mr, Blaise KILIAN to deliver the 

synthesis and closing remarks. 

Mr. Blaise KILIAN from MDG-Fund CISP recognized that resin collection provides for cash 

and subsistence needs of many people and the forum today informed of potential even for 

further export for economic growth. He agreed that there is a real need for resin industry 

development in Cambodia because of its benefits for the economy, culture, society and 

environment that should be further supported and enhanced. Moreover, he raised some 

recommendations that the support should go to: 

1. Enhance the exporter of resins – forming the group to supply the market as needed or 

go ahead with resin group 

2. Support in terms of technical and finance as they are lacking of information and 

techniques for resin refining and also the finance for community for quality and 

export to extend the potential uses of resin 

3. Promote sustainable forest management which require more participation from 

different stakeholders especially community and the government as support to CPAs 

and this could be further enhanced 

4. Promote effective partnership among the key stakeholders: government, NGOs, 

private sector and international partners. 

Mr. Blaise summarized that today everyone learned from different information and 

experience from the key speakers especially the last presentation on a clear plan and strategy 

to further develop such resin industry and this plan should be presented to interested donors 

for support to realize more benefits. 

Finally, Mr. KHOU Eanghourt from the Cambodia NTFP Working Group thanked everyone 

for their active participation. The Forum showed the strong support for resin industry 

development. Everyone has seen different status of resin and potential development of it in 

Cambodia and the region. 

Resin can be produced into different products. Oil is extracted from resin and this oil can be 

further used with other products in various industries. Mr. Eanghourt accepts that 

Cambodia’s resin industry is still young and this will be mature enough if Cambodia 

continues to be engage the sector. He again confirms with participants that when resin is 

harvested, it does not mean forest degradation. Instead such practice is protecting the resin 

trees – surely keeping the other species in the nature too. Also for environment, resin trees 

help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and regulate the climate and the underground 

water and other ecosystem services. He finally thanks everyone for coming today. 

The forum finished at 5pm and participants were invited for refreshments and to visit the 

NatureWild interactive exhibition and socials at the hotel lobby. 

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25

NatureWild & The Resin Story Exhibition & Socials was hosted and presented by 

NatureWild an enterprise and marketing support service provider initiated by the Cambodia 

NTFP-EP since 2009. The exhibition launched and introduced NatureWild’s lifestyle and 

brand vision (Protecting Forests, Nurturing Well-being) and its profile to all Resin 

Forum participants and other invitees. 

Using Resins as an example, the exhibition presented through an interactive story gallery, the 

traditional value and future potential of developing the product and supporting the people 

behind its sustainable collection and management. The first part/ section of the exhibition 

showed the PAST through photos and actual samples of the Traditional Uses of resin (wood, 

artwork, torches, (artistic) pictures of boats, lacquered home products, etc.). 

The PRESENT was set through a demonstration and display on a table and wooden panel 

board samples of value added resin product development done by NatureWild. These valueadded 

resin products were decorative masks, natural varnish, decorative and functional 

lacquered/waterproofed flower pots, balms and essential oils, etc. Guests are invited to touch, 

smell and apply the products. 

The FUTURE was set on a rattan panel with blank colored sheets or question marked paper 

to invite the guests to provide their suggestions and ideas for potential uses and direction for 

value addition and product and market development of Resins. 

NatureWild Marketing Officer, Ms.UCH Sophay also gave a brief presentation on the 

profile and services of NatureWild. NatureWild’s vision is that forest and natural resources 

are conserved and Cambodians’ livelihood being sustainably improved through social 

enterprise development, sustainable production and eco-friendly & fair marketing. 

Its Mission is to: 

 

 

 

Expand the market of Cambodian natural products through eco-friendly and fair 

trade principles. 

Promote the conservation of forest and natural resources by providing services related 

to sustainability driven R&D and training & technical assistance. 

Promote the quality enhancement of forest and natural products following 

sustainable collection protocols and international standards. 

Its Services include research and development, training and technical assistance on 

enterprise development and marketing, and sales and promotions. 

26 

26

ANNEX 

27 

27

Annex I 

Opening Remarks 

Ms. Femy Pinto 

Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia 

Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable & Pro-Poor Oleoresin Industry Development in Cambodia 

23 September 2011 Himawari Hotel, Phnom Penh 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues and Partners, 

Good morning to all, arun suorsdey! It is with pleasure and enthusiasm for me on behalf of 

the NTFP Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia to welcome all of the 

participants, NTFP-EP network partners, guests and resource people today in this important 

forum on one of the most, if not the most economically valuable non-timber forest products 

in Cambodia. 

Non-timber forest products are termed as such to draw more attention to valuable forest 

resources other than timber such as oleoresins, (choul toeuk) and others like wild honey, 

vines, canes and the like, whose utilization and management provides not only direct benefits 

to the forest users and dependents but complements well to principles of sustainable forest 

management. 

NTFP-EP in South and Southeast Asia works on all aspects of NTFP development: from 

forest conservation, community based NTFP enterprises, NTFP cultivation, security of 

tenure, traditional ecological knowledge, food security, policy, knowledge sharing and 

exchanges. We have now reached support to over 140 community based enterprises in over 

500 villages in 6 countries. In Cambodia, our reach has been to over 30 enterprises in at least 

6 provinces. 

Why oleoresins – oleoresins is probably the most representative of forest products in 

Cambodia of the livelihood of forest dependent communities; harvested year-round, meets 

both subsistence and cash needs, culturally significant with knowledge and principles in resin 

management embedded in traditional and indigenous ecological knowledge, and finally resin 

trees also determine rootedness of communities, especially of indigenous communities in 

Cambodia’s forest areas. The customary and economic importance of resin trees are already 

recognized in the Forestry Law and plays a prominent role, for example in Chapter 8, Article 

29 with the prohibition of the harvest or cutting of resin trees, and in Chapter 9, Article 40 

recognizing the traditional user rights of communities, which include the right to barter or 

sell forest by-products if these activities do not cause significant threat to the sustainability of 

the forest. 

The importance and contribution of oleoresins to a significant population in Cambodia is 

undeniable, and yet run the risk of being taken for granted by virtue of it being common, 

and largely informally traded and traditionally used – over 100,000 people directly depend 

on it for livelihood and yet another tens of thousands who utilize it for lighting and cooking. 

The use in caulking boats alone is significant, considering the vital fishing population and 

industry in the country. 

Within NTFP-EP’s aim to foster an enabling institutional environment as knowledge 

intermediary & advocate for forest community rights and community-based approaches, we 

began our efforts to explore the status and further potential of oleoresin-based livelihoods in 

Cambodia in 2007 through a community/NGO exchange, to value chains research In 2008 

and publications in 2009, and later the opportunity to conduct more direct capacity – 

building interventions and further product and market studies, and product development 

efforts have been made possible with the support of the Creative Industries Support 

Programme of the UN-MDG F and other donor partners as well as with the coordinated 

project-based interventions of our local partners. 

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28

This forum shall make use of the knowledge that has been generated and the experience that 

has been gained by partner-members in the Cambodia NTFP Working Group – partner to 

NTFP-EP and the platform for hands-on practice and networking on NTFP development in 

Cambodia. 

The 1 st panel will present the foundation and the basis of our community based approach in 

this effort – that is that knowledge shall be derived from the communities, and the benefits 

from resin based livelihoods and commercialization must also accrue to them. Members of 

the steering committee and the working group will share their perspectives and experiences 

from the field. 

I must also express thanks to our resource people today from the Philippines who have 

generously provided their expertise and experience in forest products innovations and also 

how technology, science and markets engagement might complement well with a community 

based and enterprise approach. Markets for non-timber forest products are seen to have the 

potential to expand as the global economy emphasizes greener markets and lifestyles. As the 

markets expand, oleoresin tappers and organized community-based resin enteprises (or 

CBREs) must weigh their options and their strategies as they straddle the utilization and 

management of resins for subsistence and commercial purposes. Sustainability, short-term 

and long-term benefits will certainly be critical questions. Our last speakers and presentors 

will provide us with an institutional/policy and program framework for further development 

of community based oleoresin enterprises and the supports from policy to technological, 

market-based, institutional and environmental. 

I look forward to a fruitful and dynamic discussion today, and my appreciation to my 

colleagues and partners for their tireless efforts and contribution to making this forum 

possible. Our appreciation also for the support and collaboration of the CISP and the 

individual members of the team. Good morning once again. 

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29

Opening Remarks 

Mr. Blaise Kilian, 

Joint Programme Coordinator, MDG-F Creative Industry Support Programme 



Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues, 

It is my great pleasure and honor to be present with you today, on the occasion of the 

Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable & Pro-poor Oleoresin Industry Development co-hosted by 

the Creative Industries Support Programme and NTFP-EP, an event through which we hope 

to further study and promote the potential of the resin sector in Cambodia as a sustainable 

source of income for rural communities, especially Indigenous People. 

I would like to take this opportunity to recall briefly about the MDG-F Creative Industries 

Support Programme activities over the past three years. Established with the support of the 

UN Spain Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, the Creative Industries 

Support Programme gathers four UN Agencies (UNESCO, UNDP, ILO and FAO) as well as 

four Royal Government Ministries (Ministry of Culture & Fine Arts; Ministry of Commerce; 

Ministry of Industry, Mines & Energy; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) in 

order to promote cultural programmes related to Indigenous People and to enhance cultural 

industries through close partnerships with almost 20 national and local organizations in four 

target provinces namely Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Preah Vihear and Kompong Thom. 

Established within the “Culture and Development” Thematic Window of the UN-Spain Fund, 

the Creative Industries Support Programme strongly adheres to the vision that culture should 

be the basis of sustainable development. Shared prosperity can indeed only be possible if 

decision-makers and investors first understand and take into account the local specificities, 

the customs, the traditions and even the languages of the local communities as a necessary 

preliminary to any economic endeavor. Without such an approach, economic expansion 

cannot be participative and is therefore to no avail. 

At its own modest level, and after three years of work, our Joint UN-Royal Government 

Programme has promoted the establishment of two cultural centers in Ratanakiri and 

Mondulkiri, the release of five research-publications and the adoption of a Royal Decree on 

Living Human Treasures in order to promote and safeguard intangible heritage, besides 

numerous trainings in the field of cultural programming. Furthermore, the Creative 

Industries Support Programme has been supporting more than than 800 artisans and artists 

through capacity building in entrepreneurship skills, financial literacy and rural marketing as 

well as through the establishment and strengthening of market networks for a selected 

cultural products namely traditional weaving, basketry, jars & pottery and resin. 

One might notice that resin is different from the other cultural products supported by our 

programme, as it is a raw product as compared with handicrafts. We however selected resin 

as it is undeniably a product closely associated with the life and traditions of Indigenous 

People who comprise 87% of our community beneficiaries. As historic testimonies have 

shown, Indigenous People have been traditionally collecting resin along with other Non 

Timber Forest Products they gathered from the forests to be sold or exchanged with other 

products when dealing with lowlanders. 

Up until today, the potential of resin contribution to the livelihood of thousands of 

Indigenous People households remains very high despite the changes and new challenges 

that modernity has brought to their daily environment. It even appears that for many of the 

Indigenous communities we have worked with, resin has become the main source of income, 

along with agriculture. Recent NTFP-EP researches have demonstrated that the existing 

market has a strong potential for expansion within Cambodia as well as for export. Providing 

30 

30

forest areas remain available and accessible to Indigenous communities, resin tapping can 

therefore play a strong role to support the fight against poverty and to empower Indigenous 

communities, thus contributing to the overall sustainable development of Cambodia. 

Therefore, today’s Forum provides us with the opportunity to exchange experts’ and relevant 

stakeholders’ views and experience in order to showcase the potential of the resin sector as 

well as existing prospects for its development on the medium and long term. Beyond this, I 

particularly welcome the diversity of participants to the Forum which gathers today national 

and international experts, government non-government stakeholders, local authorities and 

community members. Such a diverse range of participants enables us to further foster the 

habit of social dialogue and of networking which has been part of the Creative Industries 

Support Programme’s vision. 

I therefore wish that all participants to join a productive and fruitful Forum through lively 

and constructive contributions, for the sake of a participatory and sustainable development. 

Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to NTFP-EP for the organization of 

this Forum as well as to the Forestry Administration and other Ministries for their valuable 

presence amongst us today. I would also like to express our deep gratitude to the 

Government and the People of Spain without the support of whom these activities would not 

have been possible. 

Thank you very much for your attention. 

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31

Annex II 

Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable & Pro-Poor Oleoresin 

Industry Development in Cambodia 


TENTATIVE PROGRAMME 

Time Programme Resource Person/ Presenter 

8:00-8:30 ARRIVAL OF Cambodia NTFP Working Group 

GUESTS/PARTICIPANTS 

& (CNWG) 

REGISTRATION 

8:30-8:35 NATIONAL ANTHEM CNWG 

8:35- 8:40 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Khou Eanghourt, CNWG 

8:40-9:00 OPENING CEREMONY - REMARKS Blaise Kilian, Joint Programme 

Coordinator, MDG-F Creative 

Industries Support Programme 

Femy Pinto, Cambodia Facilitator, 

NTFP Exchange Programme for 

South & Southeast Asia 

9:00-9:20 MORNING BREAK 

9:20: PANEL PRESENTATION 1: 

10:20 

1. Experiences and Perspectives of the 

Cambodia NTFP Working Group 

(CNWG) on sustainable oleoresin 

management and community based 

oleoresin enterprise development 

2. Presentation of project 

achievements/results, lessons 

learned, challenges and 

recommendations (15 min each) 

Long Ratanakoma, Deputy 

Director, Department of Forestry 

and Community Forestry 

Administration 

Moderator: Femy Pinto, NTFP-EP 

Presenters: 

Khou Eanghourt, CNWG National 

Facilitator, Phnom Penh 

Pek Samon, Ponlok Khmer, Preah 

Vihear province 

10:20- 

10:35 

10:35- 

12:00 

3. Resin Enterprise Management: 

An Important Approach to 

Management of the Eastern Plains 

Landscape in Cambodia 

Son Bora and Amy Maling, WWF 

Cambodia, Mondulkiri Province 

Q& A for Panel Presentation 1 Facilitator/Moderator: Femy 

Pinto 

PANEL PRESENTATION 2: Exploring Moderator: Neil Patterson, MVI 

Diverse Uses and Market Potential of 

32 

32

Cambodian Dipterocarp Oleoresins or 

Dipterocarp Balsams 

1. Characterization and End Uses of 

Dipterocarp Oleoresins or Balsams 

2. Integrating Oleoresin Processing 

from Cambodian Dipterocarps for 

Community based Forest Management 

: a sharing from Philippines Experience 

3. Cambodian dipterocarp balsams in 

the regional and international market 

1. Cambodian experience in (pro-poor) 

small-medium industry development: 

building from the ground up: the case 

of Rattan & Handicrafts Sector 

Resource Persons: 

Mariluz San Pedro Dionglay, 

Senior Science Research 

Specialist, Technology Innovation 

Division, Forest Products 

Research Development Institute, 

Los Banos, Philippines 

Mildred Miranda Fidel, Chief of 

Division, Technical Services 

Forest Products Research 

Development Institute, Los Banos, 

Philippines 

11:35- Q & A for Panel Presentation 2 

12:00 

12:00-1:30 LUNCH 

1:30-2:30 PANEL PRESENTATION 3: 

Exploring Sustainable Forest 

Enterprise Development Programme 

Opportunities in Cambodia 

Nola Andaya-Milani, Social 

Marketing Specialist, Philippines 

& France 

Facilitator/Moderator- 

Neil Patterson, MVI 

Facilitator/Moderator- 

Khou Eanghourt 

Lun Yeng, Executive Director, 

Federation of Associations for 

Small & Medium Enterprise in 

Cambodia (FASMEC) & Chief 

Executive Officer (CEO), Daun 

Penh House 

2. Increasing the Economic Value of 

Dipterocarp Balsams for Forest 

Communities in Cambodia 

Tith Seyla, Enterprise 

Development Officer, NTFP- 

EP/NatureWild 

2:30-3:00 Q & A for Panel Presentation 3 Facilitator/Moderator 

Khou Eanghourt 

3:00-3:20 AFTERNOON BREAK 

33 

33

3:20-4:00 Critical Perspectives and 

Recommendations on pro-poor 

sustainable oleoresin development in 


Facilitator/Moderator – Femy 

Pinto 

Community Representative: 

Preah Vihear Resin Association 

NGO/Environment 

& 

Conservation: Ashish John, 

Wildlife Conservation Society 

(WCS) 

Mr. Ken Serey Rotha Deputy 

Director-General Department of 

Administration for Nature 

Conservation & Protection, 


4:00-4:15 Closing Remarks Blaise Kilian, Joint Programme 

Coordinator, MDG-F Creative 

Industries Support Programme 

Khou Eanghourt, CNWG 

4:15 National Anthem CNWG 

All participants are invited to: 

NatureWild & The Resin Story 

an interactive exhibition and socials 


The programme starts at 5:00 pm – organized and hosted by 

34 

34

Annex III 


ATTENDANCE LIST 

Resin Community and Local authority 

No Name Sex Institution Possition Address E-mail Phone number 

1 Tang Din M Chanyaung 

CBRE 

Vice Chief Mondulkiri Province 097 6280616 

2 Chhin Vuthy M Puohong 

CBRE 

Secretary Mondulkiri Province 097 2381 741 

3 Cham Ty M Puchrey CBRE Member Mondulkiri Province 097 9942 006 

4 Chhoy Liv M Gnlav Tonh 

CBRE 

Chief Mondulkiri Province 092860227 

5 Khlim Mel M Lav Ka 

Local Authority 

Mondulkiri Province 0887521734 

6 Ngok Nhi M Po Hiem 

CBRE 

Secretary Mondulkiri Province 0976268939 

35 

35

7 Seang Phanit M Resin Trader Mondulkiri Province 0972332449 

8 Mal March M Lav Ka 

CBRE 

Secretary Mondulkiri Province 0977124430 

9 Prak Ken M Prome 

commune 

concil 

10 Riem Nou M Puo commune 

concil 

Chief Preah Vihear 0977304443 

Chief Preah Vihear 0976631298 

11 Dim Yeuon M Srethnung 

CBRE 

Chief of 

Community 

Preah Vihear 0887901769 

12 Run San M Prome 

CBRE 

Chief of 

Community 

Preah Vihear 

13 Hun Same M Romcheck 

CBRE 

Chief of 

Community 

Preah Vihear 

14 Kong Thin M Cheup Kourt 

CBRE 

Chief of 

Community 


15 Min Samon F Kralapease 

CBRE 

Member Preah Vihear 0975740343 

16 Prom Seaun M Puo 

CBRE 

Chief of 

Community 


17 Dorn Sopheap F Resin Trader PP sopheapcool@yahoo.com 017855868 

18 Porn sophal M Resin Trader PP 017855868 

36 

36

NGOs/International Organizations/Private Sector 


1 Chham Leang 

Song 

M MSME CBNRM PP leang_song@yahoo.com 012634348 

2 Sun Bora M WWF PO Mondulkiri 011817533 

3 Lic Vuthy M UNIDO Consultant PP licvuthy @yahoo.com 012967865 

4 Sok Narin M UNIDO Head of UNIDO PP n.sok@unido.org 012757327 

5 Kong Rachana F UNIDO Assistant PP r.kong@unido.org 

6 Mariluz San 

Pedro Dionglay 

F FPRDI Specialist.SRS Philippines mariluz.dionglay@yahoo.com 

7 Mildred M.Fidel F FPRDI Chief SRS Philippines mimi_fidel@yahoo.com 63-09217502286 

8 Det Seila M FAO Team Leader Kratie seila.det@fao.org 012577783 

9 Noun Vichhka M MVI MEF Mondulkiri mc@mvicambodia.org 0978855325 

10 Lip Cheang M RAC Chairman PP 012603159 

11 Kim Veasna M TAF PO PNH vkim@asiafound.org 012900989 

37 

37

12 Neil Patterson M VSO MEA Mondulkiri npptterson@gmail.com 

13 Pisey Pech M CISP PM PP pisey.pech@undpaffiliates.org 089972620 

14 Femy Pinto F NTFP-EP Cambodia 

Facilitator 

PP femypinto@online.com.kh 012938417 

15 Ashish John M WCS TA WCS, Cambodia ajohn@wcs.org 012738526 

16 Rebeca Sandoval F AIDA CD PP 092555868 

17 Adam Keatts M CI Economic Team 

Leader 

PP a.keatts@conservation.org 012839955 

18 Hou Kalyan F RECOFTC TC PP Kalyan@recoftc.org 012839955 

19 Kuch Vy M FAO Project Assistant vy.kuch@fao.org 092797871 

20 Taing Theary M Oikocredit Project Officer pp ttaing@oikocredit.org 012651955 

21 Preap Raksa F ILO-CISP Admin/Assistant PP preap@ilo.org 012296585 

22 Yin Sopheap M ILO-CISP Coordinator PP yin@ilo.org 012714257 

23 Pek Samon M Ponlok Khmer C-E-F Preah Vihear samonkh@yahoo.com 0972687468 

38 

38

24 Lourt Sang M Ponlok Khmer CEF Preah Vihear lourtsang@yahoo.com 0974566466 

25 Ken Wood M VSO Market Linkage 

Advisor 

PP ken.wood@vsoint.org 078777357 

26 Blaise Kilian M CISP Joint 

Programme 

coordinator 

27 Pheng Reth M VSO Programme 

Manager 

PP b.kilian@undp.org 012911657 

PP pheng.reth@vsoint.org 017333125 

28 Yi Engseang F Insitor Fund Analyst yengseang@gmail.com 0116450745 

29 Christy Campbell F Shift360 Manager christy.campbell@shift360.ch 092951682 

30 Seng Rothea M FFI Ecologist #19,st 360.BBI, 

Chamkarmom, PP 

ratheaseng2007@gmail.com 012519279 

31 Oum Sony M FFI Project Manager #19,st 360.BBI, 

Chamkarmom, PP 

sony.oum@gmail.com 012308988 

32 Chan lakhena F CNWG Programme 

Assistant 

PP chanlakhena2005@yahoo.com 017899606 

33 Yep Lav M CNWG Programme 

Assistant 

PP Yeplav24@yahoo.com 017749060 

34 Ken Piseth M NTFP-EP CBHE Assistant PP Ken.piseth@yahoo.com 078785456 

35 Tith Seyla M NatureWild EDO PP seyla.tith@gmail.com 012210646 

39 

39

36 Khou Eanghourt M CNWG Facilitator PP khou_eanghourt@yahoo.com 012954627 

37 Uch Sophay F NatureWild Marketing 

Officer 

PP uchsophay@yahoo.com 092286306 

38 Nola Andaya F France 

39 Amy Maling F WWF 


Technical 

Advisor 

Mondulkiri 

Government institution 


1 Chea Buntheang M MoC Chief Deputy 

Undersecretary of 

State 

2 Khoy Khun 

Chanroth 

M MoE Chief of Provincail 

Department of 

Environment 

PP chea_bt@yahoo.com 012864278 


3 Sreng Sokvung M NCPO-C CP Expert PP sokvung@yahoo.com 012475700 

4 An sitha M School of Fine 

Arts 

Artist PP 017225026 

5 Seng Kimsay M CFO/FA Staff PP 016602497 

6 Mom Sophal M CFA Deputy of Forestry 

Cantonment 

Preah Vihear sophalmom55@yahoo.com 012325078 

40 

40

7 Hun Pen F MoCFA Deputy Director Mocfa penhun@gmail.com 092201124 

8 Isaac lyne M RUPP Research Associate PP i.lyne1@bradford.ac.uk 077599885 

9 Sour Bunmarina F MIME Secretary of 

Director, 

Department of 

Small Industry and 

Handicraft 

10 Long Ratankoma M FA Deputy Director of 

11 Noth Onn M FAC 

Mondulkiri 

Department of 

Forestry and 

Community 

Forestry 

PP marina_sour@yahoo.com 016938943 

PP dfc.koma@gmail.com 077680838 

Mondulkiri 012706702 

Media and Reporter 

No Name Sex Institution Type of 

Media 

Position Phone Email Date Media 

release 

1 Chan Panna M CTN TV Camera Man 092 65 00 01 panna.chie@yahoo.com 

panna.chine@gmail.com 

not release 

2 Sok Lak M SEA weekly Newspaper Reporter 077 98 88 26 mrsoklak@gmail.com No 39. Vol: 5 

3 Kol Chamnol M AM 918 Radio Reporter 092 965 692 nol009@yahoo.com released 

4 Ou Kanel M FM. 105.75 Radio Reporter 017 717 317 ou-kanel@yahoo.com 24.10.11news 

daily 

5 Vin Chhay M FM 96 Radio Reporter 012 303 696 

6 Kong Sereyrath M DAP-NEWS Newspaper Reporter 012 710 838 sereyrathkang@yahoo.com release 

7 Saum Sovannara M SEA TV TV Reporter 015 700 787 vannara1983@gmail.com 

8 Hoem Seiha M Economics Today Magazine Reporter 012 699 553 seiha-hoen@etmcambodia.com 

9 Mey Soklim FM 102 Radio Reporter 016 792 151 meysoklim@yahoo.com 

10 Vann Neang Nuon F The Commercial Newspaper Reporter 012 275 958 meichu_sin@yahoo.com 

41 

41

Newspaper 

11 Hao Heng M Jian hua daily Newspaper Reporter 012 575 150 haoheng612@yahoo.com 

12 Eath Daravuth M VOD Radio Senior News 012 885 208 daravutheath@vodhotnews.com 

Editor 

13 Em Navin M RFI Radio 012 562 509 

14 Sok Chanthy M Sin Chew Daily Newspaper Reporter 017 525 278 ninosu_sct@yahoo.com 

15 Meas Sarom M Khmer Science Newspaper Reporter 011 294 811 meassarom@hotmail.com 

16 Alice Burhe F Cambodia Daily Newspaper Reporter 012 228 572 alicemburhe@gmail.com 

17 Neb Tola M Bachey Newspaper Reporter 012 720 608 panha_kang@yahoo.com 

42 

42

Annex IV 

Presentation 

NatureWild Update 

Uch Sophay and Tith Seyla 

43 

43

Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable & Pro-poor 

Dipterocarp Oleoresin Industry Development 

Khou Eang Hourt 

10/10/11 

PRESENTATION OUTLINE 

Stakeholder Forum on 

Sustainable & Pro-poor Dipterocarp Oleoresin Industry 

Development 

Networking and Capacity-building interventions in 

Sustainable Resin Management 

23 September 2011 


Khou Eang Hourt 

1- OVERVIEW OF DIPTEROCARP OLEORESINS 

A- Resin tree species (SPECIES, HABITAT AND ECOLOGY) 

B- Customary ownership of resin trees 

c- Current management status of resin trees 

d- Trade activities 

2- CAMBODIA NTFP WORKING GROUP (CNWG) overview 

3- RESIN PROJECT BACKGROUND 

4 – CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE RESIN 

MANAGEMENT 

a- ACHIEVEMENTS 

B- LESSONS LEARNED 

C- CHALLENGES/CONSTRAINTS 

5 - RECOMMENDATIONS 

OVERVIEW OF DIPTEROCARP OLEORESINS 

Resin tree species 


Two distinct traditional resin tree ownership: 

1- Marking resin tree areas, encompassing many resin trees. Only 

resin trees owned, whereas other NTFPs not belong to anyone. No timber trees and 

wildlife allowed to be collected. It is a common ownership system in Cambodia. 

2- Marking individual resin tree to cut a hole for ownership, so as to 

other households could own resin trees within the same area. This ownership 

system applied at scare-resin tree areas. 

Khmer name: Trach 

Botanical name: D. intricatus 

Habitat: Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest 

Khmer name: Chheuteal Toek 

Botanical name: D. alatus 

Habitat: Gallery forest, SEF and EF 


Current management status of resin trees 

1. - Majority of resin tree areas outside CFs/CPAs, which not secure customary 

ownership; 

2. Some illegal logging activities still happening within collection areas; 

3. Lack of effort in seedling and sapling protection from forest fire in dry season; 

4. Forest enrichment or rehabilitation using resin tree species not yet initiated to the 

community; 

5. Lack of sustainable collection practice by some collectors, which may result in 

resin exhaustion or low yield in short period, and 

6. Lack of monitoring on sustainable tapping practice. 

OVERVIEW OF THE CAMBODIA NTFP WORKING GROUP 

(CNWG) 

Who we are: Local, regional/international NGOs, private sectors and individuals 

committing to work together as a network to co-undertake community development 

and conservation programs that are in line with addressing poverty among forest 

dependent communities, deforestation and NTFP degradation, unrecognized 

economic relevance of NTFPs, and land tenure security issues. We target CBOs/ 

enterprise networks. 

What we do: 1) networking and collaboration; 2) capacity building and technical 

assistance; 3) policy advocacy; 4) resource mobilization; 5) research, education and 

information dissemination, and 6) impact monitoring using common indicators. 

Current focused NTFP development: Honey, Sleng, Rattan and resin. 

1 

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10/10/11 

RESIN PROJECT BACKGROUND 

Project title: Increasing Domestic Value-Addition of Resin Products of Communitybased 

Resin Enterprises (CBREs) in Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear Provinces, 


Project duration: Oct 2010 – Sept 2011 

Specific objective: 

1. to improve the CBRE product quality and standard of resin collection and basic 

processing; 

2. To undertake marketing activities for selected resin basd products, and 

3. To strenghthen the marketing capacity and network of CBRE. 

Networking AND SUPPORT TO: 

1. Ponlok Khmer in Preah Vihear 

1. My Village (MVI) in Mondulkiri 

2. WWF-Cambodia in Mondulkiri 

CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS ON 

SUSTAINABLE RESIN MANAGEMENT 

achievements 

- Workshop in Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear provinces to discuss about the current 

tapping practice, its impact and improvement; 

CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS ON 

SUSTAINABLE RESIN MANAGEMENT 

Guide to Sustainable Management and Collection of Dipterocarp Oleoresins or 

Balsams 

- Exchange visit in Preah Vihear provinces by bringing 10 resin tappers from 10 

communities together to discuss about the sustainable resin tapping technique, 

covering 12 steps 

- Publication of the guide to sustainable collection and management of dipterocarp 

oleoresin or balsams with inclusion of tapping technique and monitoring, and 

- Training to communities in Mondulkiri province on CBNE with examples of resin as 

part of other commercial NTFPs. 

CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE 

RESIN MANAGEMENT – 

LESSONS LEARNED 

- Working as a network/partners among NGOs concerned on a particular aspect and at the 

same site is beneficial in terms of confusion, time, expense, output and others; 

- There is a good resin tapping practice within the community, but lack of knowledge sharing 

among them; 

- community-shared capacity building is a quick learn process and effective approach for the 

community; 

- CBNE/CBRE contributes to livelihood development and natural resource management for 

both within and outside CFs/CPAs; 

- Customary ownership of resin trees benefits to sustainable forest management, and 

- The CBRE establishment takes time and needs good facilitation skill due to limited 

knowledge of community, group working environment and benefit issue. 

CNWG CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTIONS ON 

SUSTAINABLE RESIN MANAGEMENT - CHALLENGES 

- large resin tree areas outside CFs/CPAs, which not secured ownership or 

customary use right; 

- Informal fee on the road in addition to royalty fee is a major issue for sustainable 

trade of CBRE. 

- improper resin tapping practice by some collectors which impacts resin quality 

and long-term yield; 

- Poor road conditions in certain areas caused to high cost in transportation; 

- Lack of locally technical expertise for processing and business development; 

- Insufficient capital resources for the establishment of processing facilities and 

CBNE; 

- Resin by-product development and value addition skill still undeveloped; 

2 

49

Dipterocarpus Resin in the International Market: 

A Market Scan 

Nola Andaya - Milani 

10/10/11 

Objectives 

DIPTEROCARPUS RESIN IN THE 

INTERNATIONAL MARKET: A 

MARKET SCAN 

To provide an overview of current market of resin, 

Essential Oils and Gurjun Balsam, the trade name of 

oleoresins from diptercarpus spp. 

To give a quick scan of potential markets based on 

current applications of general essential oil industry 

and potential uses based on the results provided by 

the FPRDI test and other existing studies and market 

uses. 

Nola Andaya – Milani September 2011 

Content 

Overview of Resin Market 

Overview of the resin and essential oil markets. 

Overview of the Gurjun Balsam / Oil in the market. 

Potential Markets 

Conclusion 

4 

824 

13 

9 

748,168,000 USD in 2010 17% 

increase from previous year. 

Resin Market cont. 

Essential Oil Market 

Main known industries that absorb the resin supplies 

are painting&coating, adhesives, pharmaceutical, 

cosmetic products and incense, art supplies. 

Market is said to increase at low rates due to no 

new applications of materials. But with supplies 

dwindling and markets for natural composites 

growing, demand is expected to increase. 

Trade reports indicate that Cambodia exported a 

value of 454,000 US$ in 2009 and 217,000 US$ 

in 2010. 

Essential oils, with varied chemical composition and 

aromatic characteristic, are used in various 

industries: 

a) fragrance, 650 M USD (44%) 

b) aromatherapy 250M USD (17%) 

c) pharmaceutical, 220M USD (15%) 

d) agrochemicals 150M (10%) 

e) intermediates 120M USD (8% ) and 

f) cosmetics 90M (6%) (Murray) 

1 

51

10/10/11 

Essential Oils Market cont. 

Essential Oils Market cont. 

Total exports of E.O. was 2.9 billion USD in 2010. 

Production is growing at 8-10% year due to new 

products requiring flavor/fragrance as well as 

demand for more natural products. 

Many of importing countries re export the oils, or 

fractions extracted from them. 

USA, followed by France, UK, Germany, Japan, 

Switzerland, China are top importer with 

Netherlands and Spain showing growing demands 

in 2010. 

Drivers of Growth: 

Demand for natural/sustainable products 

New / Growing consumer industries (Aromatherapy, 

Cosmeceuticals, Biocides (Plant protection, pesticides, etc.) 

Biotechnology Development 

Emerging Markets 

Other Segments of Markets: 

Organic essential oils 

General Requirement 

Assessed based on physical, aromatic properties 

and chemical composition. 

Assessed on percentage of compound for which 

they are principally considered as source. 

Composition and aroma profile can be affected by 

environment of the plant, cultivation, distillation, 

storage, handling and possibly by tapping method. 

Reliability of supply (in quality and in volume) 

Dipterocarpus oleoresin or Gurjun 

Balsam in the Market 

Gurjun Balsam and G. B. Dipterocarpus turbinatus ext. are listed 

separately in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical 

Substances (EIECS) 

Known uses are boat caulking, paint & varnish industry, perfumery 

No exact data on trade as it is lumped under HS Code 1301 with 

other resins, lacs, balsams, gum resins, etc. 

7US$ per kilo (Indonesia) for the balsam in 2011. 2009 price was US 

$8.75 per kilo with low supplies at that time. 

Known suppliers are India, Indonesia and Laos. 

Known importers are India, France, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. 

In 2003, 70 tonnes were imported by India from port of Thailand and 

Singapore. Company demand was indicated at 400kg to 1500kg / 

year. 

Gurjun Balsam Oil in the Market 

Gurjun Balsam in Products 

Production is estimated at 50-100 tonnes / year 

top 110 of 300 essential oils traded in the market 

one of the oils that can only be sourced from 

tropical countries and can only be found in the 

Southeast Asia. 

Main known use is perfumery. As fragrance source 

(alpha-gurjunene) and as base note. Also used as 

fixative for candles and soaps. 

Main known supplier is India, France 

average price of 21US$ to 30US$ per kilogram 

(India) for the essential oil 

2 

52

10/10/11 

Existing and Potential Markets 

Gurjun Balsam in Fragrance 

Fragrance: Perfume & Home 

Pharmaceutical & Cosmeceuticals 

Aromatherapy & Well-being 

Plant Protection Products / Agro-chemical 

Green Construction Materials: Natural Coating, 

Adhesive & Paint 

Others – Fine Arts 

Low-cost, mild smelling, balsamic 

Used as natural fixative and source of 

fragrance agent 

Also known to be as adulterant to other 

balsams / essential oils 

Usually extraction is done in European / 

Importing Countries 

Image might be changing and may be 

recognized for its woody notes. 

Fragrance companies indicated 400kg to 

1500 kg/ demand per year. 

Fragrance: Perfumery & Home 


Known use is perfumery and fragrance fixative. 

60% of essential oils go to Fragrance, an industry that 

continues to grow. 

Drivers of Opportunity / Demand 

Trends towards woody notes & unstable prices and supply 

of higher-value oils (patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, etc.); 

banning of other bases 

Natural Perfumery w/ high requirement for natural fixatives 

Emerging markets growing demand for cosmetics and 

demand flow-cost for home fragrance. 

Demand for Traceable and sustainable natural raw 

materials 

Literature demonstrate traditional use of resins 

to treat bacteria and fungi-based diseases. Oil 

from oleoresin is said to be applied externally 

to ulcers, ring worms and cutaneous infections 

(Appanah 1998) FPRDI tests demonstrated 

bioactivity against fungus. 

Potential products are Skin-care w/ medicinal 

properties. 

Growth of Cosmeceutical (Cosmetic + 

Pharmaceutical) market w/ industries turning to 

plant extracts for their functional properties 

and fragrance. 


Aromatherapy & Well-being 

Global anti-fungal market was at $7.4 billion in 

2009 and is a steady market growing at low rate. 

Anti-fungal topical medication remain to be a core 

segment, especially for hot and humid countries. 

Organic cosmetic products are experiencing high 

growth rates. 

Emerging markets expected to lead recovery of 

medicated skin care industry. 

Thai cosmeceutical industry is growing. 

Literature claim aromatherapy use of the Gurjun balsam oil 

trend towards a healthier lifestyle&choices has driven the growth 

of Aromatherapy and the Well-being/Spa industry 

The oil is already made available in the online retail market. 

However, not all can claim that they are of therapeutic grade. 

Aromatherapy extended to products like soap, incense, massage 

oils, etc. Products are used in spa industry that is fast growing in 

the world and the Southeast Asian region (tourism market 

segment) 

Men is a growing market segment. 

Woody scents may be interesting to 

The market. 

3 

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10/10/11 

Biopesticides / Agro-chemicals 


FPRDI test showed bioactivity against fungi and study on 

another dipterocarpus resin claim that four labile 

sesquiterpenoids related to alpha-gurjunene are responsible 

for resin’s termicidal and anti-fungal activity. The same study 

demonstrated that the resin had insecticidal chemicals such as: 

alloaromadendrene, humulene and caryophyllene 

Lab results show that chemical composition of resin sourced 

from Cambodia has 4.84% of Allo-aromadendrene with 

some humulene and caryophyllene. 

Bio-pesticides are made to be less toxic and only have an 

effect on target pests. They are pest control that contributes 

to reduction of pest population and increase food production. 

Extracts and compounds from plants have become direct or sources 

of agents against agro-pathogens. Current uses include the control 

of insect pests, microbial pathogens and weeds. (Lubbe 2011). 

Recent developments have projected essential oils as safe and 

commercially viable green pesticides. (Koul et al 2008). 

High-growth rate industry estimated at 10-20% / year. 

Driven by the growing organic farming market a $54.9 billion 

industry growing steadily. 

Growing demand for fungicides that are seen by farmers as drivers 

of quality and yield. 

Mammalian toxicity of existing termiticides has created a demand 

for healthy and ecological termiticides. 


This is a young industry with lots of opportunities for growth. 

Different market segments offer suppliers different market 

sizes. From organic farms to household gardeners. Growing 

demand for fungicides offer the dipterocarpus resin some 

opportunities. Different segments also offer different specific 

demands (i.e fungicide, herbicide, insect repellants, termiticide, 

etc.) Pesticides based on gurjun balsam oil can be explored. 

While the market demand for green pesticides is growing, the 

industry’s growth is constrained by the changing and 

demanding regulations for the registration and release of new 

products in the market. 

Green Construction: Natural Paint & 

Coating and Adhesives 

Dipterocarp resins are traditionally used as varnish and 

sealants. 

Drivers of this market are consumer demand as well as 

regulations towards greener standards. 

Small companies have emerged to meet demands of markets. 

Big companies are also exploring green products. 

Major markets such as the USA, Europe, China, India and the 

Gulf states are adopting green building at dramatic rates. 

Natural Paints and Finishes refer to those made from natural 

raw ingredients such as water, plant oils and resins, plant dyes 

and essential oils; natural minerals like clay, chalk and talcum, 

milk casein, natural latex, beeswax, earth and mineral dyes. 

Fine Arts 

Resins are traditionally used as coating for 

paintings. 

A growing niche market of encaustic painters that 

make use of hard resins and beeswax for their art. 

Online markets offer hard resin crystals and damar 

varnish to coat paintings. 

 

Geographical segmentation of 

Markets 

Regional 

Spa & Tourism Industry (Thailand, SEA) 

Paint & Varnish & Sealant Industry (Vietnam) 

Resin (Vietnam, 

Cosmeceuticals (Thailand) 

International 

Fragrance (Europe, USA, Emerging markets – India, China, Russian 

Fed. 

Green construction (Europe) 

Aromatherapy (USA, Europe) 

Fine Art 

Biopesticides 

4 

54

10/10/11 

Conclusion 

Whether as oleoresin or as separate essential oil and resins, 

the dipterocarpus spp. Resin is an important ingredient to many 

industries. 

Further research on the properties of the Cambodian 

Dipterocarpus oleoresin and product development need to be 

done in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered 

by the market. 

As E.O. are affected by different factors, a pilot to test the e.o 

of the Cambodian Dipterocarpus spp. Oleoresin in the market 

is needed. 

Market offers different segments that can accommodate the 

sustainable volume of production. 

5 

55

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