Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

MONG Reththy, president of Mong Reththy Group, a company which breeds young pigs to sell to Cambodian farmers for rearing, said Wednesday that demand for pork in Phnom Penh has increased about 20 percent in the past year.

The capital requires about 2,000 pigs per day to meet demand, compared to 1,600 pigs a year ago, he said.

“We may face a serious shortage of pork at market in the future if the well-to-do in the country are not quick enough to invest their wealth in pig raising to help increase supply,” Mong Reththy said.

Pork prices at Phnom Penh’s five main markets have risen 6.5 percent so far this year, Trade Promotion Department figures showed Wednesday, the steepest price rise of any meat on sale.

Duck and beef were stable, and chicken prices fell 1.6 percent over the same period. Chan Socheat, president of the Kampong Speu Pig Raising Association, which supplies 120 pigs per day to Phnom Penh markets, said Wednesday that his association had started pushing members to raise more pigs to benefit from demand.

Cambodia’s biggest animal feed producer CP Cambodia announced that it would increase production 20 percent this year in a bid to respond to farmers' demand.
Wittaya Kreangkriwit, Vice President of CP Cambodia, a subsidiary of its Thai parent firm, said that his company would produce 144.000 tonnes of animal feed to sell throughout the country at US$ 500 per tonne.
 
"We want to encourage more and more farmers to raise animals in order to reduce meat imports from other countries into Cambodia," he said.
 
In 2009, the company, which is located in Phnom Penh, sold 120,000 tonnes of feed to its customers at US$ 460 per tonne, according to company data. Total sales were worth $55.2 million. This year, sales are expected to reach $72 million, the firm estimates.