Cambodia alarmed at illegal import of pigs from Vietnam

Cambodia is alarmed at the illegal import of pigs from the neighboring country of Vietnam.

Srun Pov, president of Association of Pigs Raising in Cambodia, said Wednesday that about 1,000 pigs are illegally imported from Vietnam into Cambodia every day, and some of them are ill.

He said if such situation continued, the pig raising industry in Cambodia will be dead, adding that the pigs imported from Vietnam are priced at just over 6,000 riel (about 1.42 U.S. dollars) per kilogram, about 3,000 riel cheaper than pigs raised in Cambodia.

Srun Pov, however, acknowledged that throughout Cambodia, a total of more than 4,000 pigs are needed for daily consumption, and in Phnom Penh alone it needs between 1,200 to 1,300 pigs, but the domestic pigs in Cambodia is not sufficient.

He said the country lacks about 700 to 800 pigs per day, but farmers are discouraged to raise pigs because of those imported ones from neighboring countries.

Cambodia allowed to import 800 pigs per day from Thailand, but as their price is higher than those imported from Vietnam, Thai pigs import have been stalled over the past months, said Srun Pov.

In May this year, Curtis Hundley, chairman of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of the USAID said Cambodia had imported about one million pigs per year from Thailand alone and that had lost about 45 million U.S. dollars a year to the farmers' pockets.

Cambodia is an agrarian country and rich in natural resources, while it still imports pigs, chicken and fish from neighboring countries as well as other household stuff and products for daily consumption.

Source: Xinhua