According to Ong, he heard that a neighbour just “metres” away from the land used by Hong Lai Huat for tapioca farming had secured permits to begin marble excavations, a prized natural stone used for flooring and furnishings. Inspired, Ong decided to conduct bore tests as well, drilling holes throughout the entire tapioca farm, which was around one-seventh the size of Singapore.
A quick check of property developer Hong Lai Huat Group’s (SGX:CTO
) most recent FY2025 annual report showed that its largest revenue source of $1.79 million came from the sale of marble blocks, followed by $676,000 from the sale of development properties and rental income of $312,000.
Finding marble on Hong Lai Huat’s farmland sounds like something of a fairytale. We need to go back a bit to the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. The border skirmishes prompted Dylan Ong Jia Jing, Hong Lai Huat’s executive director and chief strategy officer, to rethink his strategy around the company’s agricultural business, which, for years, was focused on growing tapioca.
