Prahok makers complain of high prices in capital
Every year, traders and farmers travel from the provinces to Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district to buy fish to produce prahok paste, but with this year’s prahok season ramping up, high prices have pushed many of them to camp in tents along the riverbank, waiting for prices to drop. Farmer Nheb Vansi, 69, from Kandal province’s Koh Thom district told the Post on January 8 that the high prices were persisting despite ample catches. “This high fish price is not caused by the lack of fish, but because of big traders . . . We cannot compete with them, because we don’t dare to buy the fish at high prices like this,” she said. She said that 1 kilogram of fish cost about 500 to 700 riel more than last year, ranging up to 2,200 riel (a bit more than $0.50) per kilogram. She and five other villagers hoped to produce 5 tonnes of prahok to be shared among their families and neighbours and have been staying near the riverbank for three days waiting for prices to fall.
