Cambodia - Food imports soaring to fill production gap

Cambodia's food imports shot up 42 per cent year-on-year through February, a sign the Kingdom is still struggling to produce enough food to meet its own demand.

Imports for the first two months of the year totalled 55,818 tonnes, up from 39,330 tonnes in 2011, according to Ministry of Commerce figures.

Revenues so far this year have reached US$33.5 million, an increase of 56 per cent from $21.5 million for the same period in 2010.

“Our production is not adequate,” Lorn Yeng, executive director of the Federation of Associations of Small and Medium Enterprises, said yesterday.

Meng Sak Theara, director of the Department of Industry at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said the flow of goods into Cambodia was the result of stronger trade ties with neighbouring countries Vietnam and Thailand.

Those imports would only increase when ASEAN economies integrate in 2015, he said. “So local producers should try to improve their products in order to compete.”

Sieam Bunthy

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