THE global financial downturn has affected business, particularly in the fisheries export sector, despite the general perception that Brunei is relatively guarded from the economic crisis, local entrepreneurs said yesterday.

An exporter of fresh frozen sea products, Hj Saini Hj Mohd Don of Saimas-Khairus Enterprise, said that his company has been experiencing a decrease in revenue due to the crisis.

The company exports fishes and other seafood products to Miri and other areas in Malaysia, as well as providing for the domestic market.

He said that the economic downturn has caused the price of selling fish to factories in Malaysia to go down by as much as 75 per cent. To prevent further losses, he said that he had to stop exporting these goods and supply fish only to the local market.

Hj Saini remarked that prices were relatively stable in Brunei, but it did not reap the same profits as exporting abroad.

He said that other challenges were also involved in the export market, such as fluctuations in the exchange rate.

"We buy the fish (from trawlers) with Brunei dollars, but we sell it using the Malaysian ringgit," he said. "So there are risks involved."

He added that the price also had an effect, explaining that if the price in the Miri market was low, then they had no choice but to sell low.

There were also other restrictions such as in the transportation of these goods, he said.

Another exporter from the aquaculture sector who did not want to be named agreed that the financial downturn has affected his business.

"We are not getting as much as we used to," he said, referring to the export of seafood products to markets such as Kota Kinabalu.

It was also observed that the stock of fish and other seafood in Brunei waters has decreased over the years. Roslan, who is involved in the capture fisheries and supplies fresh fish to Hj Saini, noted that the catch several years back were considerably larger, sometimes reaching 16 tonnes of fish compared to the average of four to six tonnes they can catch at present.

He said that the trawlers usually spend a night out at sea within Brunei's exclusive economic zone and returned to dock at the Fish Landing Complex in Muara the next day, where their catch would be inspected by the authorities to ensure that marine capture regulations are observed by fishermen.

Once given the go-ahead, the catch is then sold to exporters and local wholesalers, who then re-sell the fish to the wet markets across the Sultanate. Their catch includes species of sardines and other small fish varieties. (With additional reporting by Saifulizam)

In Courtesy of The Brunei Times