Fish exports swim upward

Photo by: Will Baxter
Fish are sold at a Siem Reap market. Exports of fish from the Kingdom increased by one third in 2010.

via CAAI

Thursday, 13 January 2011 15:00 Chun Sophal

THE Kingdom exported US$40 million worth of fish to international markets in 2010, an increase of a third on the value of exports a year previous, according to a report.

Exports exceeded targets as in the 2010 fisheries produced more than enough to fulfill domestic demand, said Nao Thuok, director general of the Fisheries Administration. “We would not export more fisheries products if we had not [caught] much in 2010,” he said yesterday.

Some 35,000 tonnes of fish was exported in 2010, worth around $40 million – more than the 20,000 tonnes the administration had planned.

In 2009, Cambodia exported 30,000 tonnes of fish worth about $30 million to markets in countries such as China, Vietnam, and South Korea.Total fish catches amounted to 550,000 tonnes last year, of which 405,000 were freshwater, 85,000 were saltwater, and 60,000 were from fish farms.

The total catch had been 515,000 tonnes in 2009.

Nao Thuok said the strong fish catch last year was due to higher water levels.

Chantho Mean Cheay, a fish exporting firm, claimed much of the catch last year was made up of smaller fish, which generally brought in less revenue.

“The level for 2010 exports increased, but it was generally not big fish which fetch high prices,” said the firm’s chief executive officer Buth Chantho.

Preah Sihanouk province fish farmer Ung Puth Mulyka said that she had raised some 10 tonnes of bass and grouper in 2010, an increase of about two tonnes on 2009.