March 28, 2008

Cambodia lifts ban on imported pork to combat food inflation
 

Cambodia has lifted a ban on pig and pork products imports in a bid to stop food inflation.

Pork products from Thailand and Vietnam were banned last year due to fears that outbreaks of swine diseases could harm domestic pig farms.

Last year, China was battling outbreaks of blue ear disease while bacterial infections from diseased pigs had killed two people in Vietnam.

However, Cambodia now has little options available as domestic pig production is unable to meet pork demand, which caused pork prices to shoot up dramatically over the past year.

Cambodia has checked that the pig diseases have ceased before lifting the ban, which would help in stabilising prices, according to Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia.

Pork now costs KHR 4.6 per kilogram, a sharp increase of 40 percent from last year, and as a result, less Cambodians are able to afford the meat as more than a third of the country's 14 million people has less than KHR 0.5 to live on per day.

Making the situation worse is the price inflation for rice as well, which now sells for KHR 1 per kilogram, marking a 60 percent price increase.

In response, Hun has also ordered a stop on rice exports.