Fisheries haul in cash abroad

via Khmer NZ

Thursday, 05 August 2010 15:00 Chun Sophal

CAMBODIA shipped abroad 10,000 tonnes of fish worth US$20 million during the first six months of 2010, according to figures from the General Department of Fisheries Administration.

The value of fisheries exports was US$5 million higher than the figure for the same period last year, even though volume had dropped by 5,000 tonnes by the end of June 2010 compared with the same period last year.

Fisheries Administration Director Nao Thuk said the increase in prices for fish exports resulted from rising prices for the product on foreign markets.

“Cambodia’s fishery products have been exported for very good prices this year because of demand from international markets,” he said.

Exports of freshwater and saltwater fish are limited by the Fisheries Administration to 20,000 tonnes for the whole of 2010 in order to avoid domestic shortages of the staple protein, Nao Thuk said.

Cambodia’s population of about 14 million people requires 700,000 tonnes of fish to serve local markets.

Ung Puth Molika, owners of a saltwater fish farm in Preah Sihanouk province, said fish prices were quite high because of an increase in buyers over last year.

Sea bass and grouper sold at over US$1 per kilogramme, she said, and there was still not enough fish to meet demand.

In 2009, Cambodia exported a total of 30,000 tonnes of fishery products worth $30 million, statistics show.

Some 15,000 tonnes worth $15 milion were exported in the first half of last year. Exports of fish headed to China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Australia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a previous report released by the Fisheries Administration.