November 20, 2007

Malaysian company to double fish produce

Malaysia's Cosmic Aquaculture Industries announced to double its number of fish output to 100,000 next year.

The company will use its 0.4-hectare farm in Batu Maung. Although the Malaysian company has only been operating for four months, it announced the necessity to increase its fish volume.

Company representative said they have seen an increase in live fish demand while the supply from wild stock was depleting.

The company currently farms over 50,000 fish in about 200 net cages. It breeds the red snapper (ang sai), tiger grouper (hor pan) and longtan grouper (giant grouper) varieties.

Malaysia-based WorldFish Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute estimated that fish consumption will increase by 57 percent to 98.6 million tonnes in 2020 from 62.7 million tonnes in 1997.

With an increase in global demand, the price of fish is projected to rise by 4 percent to 16 percent by 2020.