North eastern Malaysian state to produce fish for export next year

 

 

Terengganu's Como Lake on the fringe of Kenyir is expected to produce 9,000 tonnes of silver catfish, Asian seabass and tilapia for the international market in 2010.

 

It is among the high impact projects launched by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in 2007 under the Terengganu Agrotech Development Corporation (TADC).

 

TADC chief operations officer Rosli Harun, said there were parties from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, UAE, India, Singapore and Hong Kong interested in buying the fish when production reached full capacity in the next few months.

 

Harun said production has doubled by adding 2,000 underwater cages, each of which can generate one tonne of fish every harvest.

 

He said harvesting was only twice a year as the fish took six to eight months to mature, depending on the species.

 

He said for each harvest, a profit of MYR10 million can be turned in based on the current tilapia and patin price of MYR5 per kilogramme, and MYR12 per kilogramme for siakap.

 

He estimated that revenue of MYR20 million per annum was possible with the inclusion of the export market, adding that buyers from UAE were keen to order three containers, equivalent to 60 tonnes, on a weekly basis.

 

He added that TADC was working out ways to boost production in view of the high overseas demand.

 

The farm released four million fry into the cages early this year to increase output, he said.

 

US$1 = MYR3.462 (Sep 24)