Cambodia imported more than 1.2 million tonnes of agricultural fertilisers and chemical pesticides in 2019, up more than nine per cent from 1.1 million tonnes in 2018, said a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Of that, more than 1.14 million tonnes were fertilisers and 81,097 tonnes were chemical pesticides, it said.
The Kingdom imports more than 90,000 tonnes per month of about 2,600 types of fertilisers and pesticides to serve the agricultural sector.
Chiv Por Hor, the chairman of Poipet-based Chiv Por Hor Import Export Co Ltd, said on Tuesday his company asked the ministry to import 6,000 tonnes per year, but imported just more than 3,000 tonnes last year.
“My company sells a lot from May to August, which is farmers’ growing season,” he said.
The company imports hydrolysed protein-based organic nitrogen fertilisers from Thailand and distributes them in the Kingdom under the CPH brand with a golden gaur logo.
Meanwhile, an anonymous employee at a Japanese fertiliser company, said his company imports an average of 2,000 tonnes of fertilisers a year to distribute to farmers in Cambodia.
However, he said, a number of counterfeit agricultural fertiliser products have made it into circulation and have taken a heavy toll on the market.
“My company is struggling because there are too many counterfeit products. As people tend to go for low-cost fertilisers, these fakes are selling well,” he said.
The ministry has granted pesticide/fertiliser registration certificates to 235 companies and pesticide/fertiliser import and export certificates to 226 companies nationwide.
There are 107 agricultural fertiliser importers and 61 pesticide importers in the Kingdom, as well as 58 companies that import both.
