Huge demand for Sabah frozen prawns
Published on: Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Tawau: There is a huge market for the district's aquaculture produce like frozen prawns in Korea and Vietnam, which offers a good price for them. According to Malaysian Fisheries Director General Datuk Ahamad Sabki Mahmood, industry players here would be able to reap positive returns there, thanks to the high and export quality of local prawns produced by companies under the Entry Point Projects of the National Key Economic Area (NKEA). He said this after launching the 200th container for prawn exports under NKEA project, Pegagau Specialty Farming Sdn Bhd in Umas-Umas, Monday. Also present was Pegagau's managing director Lim Ah Cham and Sabah Fisheries Aquaculture Management Division Chief Azhar Kassim.
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Pegagau began operations on October 2012 and today it has the capacity to produce up to 20 tonnes of prawns a day. They are also a pioneering firm under the EPP6 (Integrated Ponding System) that has hit the project deliverables target and fulfilling the Fisheries Department Key Performance Index (KPI). "The KPI include the execution of research and development integration, training, hatchery development, operation of breeding pools, processing plant and food factory and market direction," he said. From 2011 to 2014, Ahamad said some 23 firms have forwarded their proposals to become the pioneering firms and 14 were appointed to become the quantum pioneers, involving an investment worth RM446.3 million. He added the Government is confident with the EPP5 Integrated Pooling System which would be able to generate RM1.2 billion (US$398 million) from the Gross National Income and 12,000 job opportunities in a span of 10 years until 2020.
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Under the same programme 10,000ha has been developed by the pioneering firms, producing up to 100,000 tonnes of fish and prawns by 2020. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Pegagau has been set up with the cost of RM10 million and is equipped with a processing plant near its breeding pool, and since they began operations, some 175 containers have been exported.
