• Society

Import less Frozen Meat and Buy Local to Support Farmers, Hun Manet Says

• By Meng Seavmey
• January 31, 2024 2:15 PM

PHNOM PENH — Prime Minister Hun Manet appealed to meat wholesalers, businesses, and the public to buy meat from local suppliers and retailers to support farmers and reduce frozen meat imports. 

“They can buy local meat and freeze it based on their needs,” he said on Jan. 30 at a meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries to review the work done 2023 and the outlook for 2024. 

Referring to recent restrictions soon to be imposed on meat imports, the prime minister said that there would still be a supply-and-demand issue on the market even if they were not enforced because, he said, “only the measure is not enough to guarantee the markets for local farmers.”

The restrictions he referred to were announced by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries on Jan. 12,  and according to which Cambodia will ban imports of some types of frozen meat and offal from March to September 2024. This was done following a directive of Hun Manet on Jan. 9, and in response to falls in prices for domestic meat, hurting local livestock farmers since early 2023 due to many Cambodian buyers importing frozen meat. 

Srun Pov, president of the Cambodian Livestock Breeders Association, agreed with the prime minister’s statement, as local meat purchases will create jobs and markets again for local farmers. 

“The number of livestock farmers declined before due to imported frozen meat,” he said on Jan. 30.  “However, there still are major livestock companies who are standing firm and can supply, the market.

“This is what the farmers have wanted,” he said, speaking of the restrictions on frozen meat. “We guarantee that there will never be lack of supplies for the markets.” 

With the hope of price increases, more and more farmers will go back to raising livestock and that will contribute even more to livestock supplies, Pov said.

Ome concern that remains is the price of animal feeds, which should not be high because high cost of capital would also affect customers, he said. 

In December 2023, the Department of Customs and Excise said that a ban on imports of legal frozen products could not take place because of free-trade rules. However, conditions for importing some frozen meat could be modified to facilitate management and ensure quality, the department said.

Following the prime minister’s directive of Jan. 9, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries will carry out the measure as of Mar. 12, 2024.

The measure, however, does not apply to investment projects that are qualified for importing frozen meat and organs used for making final products for exports, the department said.