Cambodian farmers squeezed out
Small-scale pig raisers can’t compete on price with Thai imports and big local farms.
- Published: 1 Oct 2012 at 10.38
- Newspaper section: Asia focus
Cambodians like pork. The average Cambodian consumes 9.29 kilogrammes of the meat a year and local farmers have long supplemented their incomes by selling an average of two pigs a year.
Cambodian pig prices are down 5% but feed costs are up 25%. As well, Thai firms use hormones and only need to feed pigs for three months instead of six.
In 2008, Cambodian farmers supplied around 2 million pigs, more than 90% of domestic demand. But the market for small-scale pig farmers is vanishing. Most of the pork local people now eat is imported from Thailand, or comes from large-scale producers who have seized the market once dominated by local farmers.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
