Chinese Company To Dive Deep Into Cambodia’s Fish Market

A fish farm on the Chinese island of Hainan. A Chinese company is looking to invest $100 million into creating fish farms in Cambodia. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries signed an agreement yesterday with China Ocean Fishing Holding Limited (COFL) to start a $100 million joint venture with Khmer Holding Group on freshwater and seawater aquaculture projects around the Tonle Sap river, Mekong river and Preah Sihanouk province to which will help supply fish for local and foreign demand. According to Fisheries Minister Veng Sakhon, the Chinese company would also consider setting up a system to use raw materials in Cambodia to create low-cost fish feed for local fish farms. A pilot zone of 200 hectares of ponds to farm tilapia fish would be made first, before COFL committed to 2,000 hectares of development. A decrease in total exports of fish products despite an increase in yield was recorded in 2016, which saw the fishing industry revenue to drop by nearly a half compared to the previous year, according to a report from the Ministry. For more on this story, click here.