Cambodia will introduce a board for the silk industry. The National Silk Board (NSB) is an industry body that will work toward tightening regulations and boosting investor confidence in Cambodia’s silk industry. It will build networks between raw silk producers and silk product makers.

The Cambodian silk industry is considered significant to economic growth and it’s expected that once the NSB is established there will be a lot of funding to boost the sector. Cambodia’s natural silk industry is on the verge of extinction due to the widespread use of pesticides that have severely damaged the health of silkworms, leading producers to rely on imported synthetic fibers to meet the demand.

The production of golden silk, which is sourced from a silkworm, has decreased from 10 tonnes per year in 2008 to less than a tonne per year in 2014. Silkworms living in polluted environments produce poor quality silk and less of silk. Silkworms are affected by the smell of pesticides which farmers use in their fields.

Even a price increase of golden silk has not given producers with an incentive to remain in the industry. With the establishment of the National Silk Board, the Cambodian silk market is expected to expand and grow.