Singapore-listed ornamental fish and aquarium products company Qian Hu is making its debut in Timor-Leste, a half-island nation home to one of the world’s most biodiverse waters, to get an early foothold in its nascent but promising aquaculture industry.
Incorporated in June, Timor Aquahub International was established to undertake Qian Hu’s aquaculture business in Timor-Leste, including the development of sustainable lobster farming and seafood-processing operations.
Qian Hu owns a majority stake of 55 per cent in Timor Aquahub, while former Timorese secretary of state for electricity, water and urbanisation Januario Pereira has a 25 per cent stake. The remaining 20 per cent is owned by Singaporean Roger Koh, the subsidiary’s managing director and a veteran in Indonesia’s fishery scene.
The first phase of its operations involves the establishment of an operational base in the country’s capital, Dili.
Timor Aquahub’s managing director Roger Koh with Qian Hu’s proprietary water filtration system. Qian Hu owns a majority stake of 55% in the subsidiary; Koh owns 20%. PHOTO: GOH RUOXUE, BT
At a tour of the facility in July, Koh told The Business Times that it will serve as a domestic distribution hub supplying live seafood to supermarkets, restaurants and other customers in Timor-Leste; and also as an export hub serving international markets.
The base houses an office space; a seafood processing and packing area; cold-storage facilities; as well as backup generators. It also has a quarantine centre to store lobsters and mud crabs for export, and fish for wholesale, said Koh.
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The centre holds 60 tanks, which can altogether store up to 3,000 kg of lobsters at any one time, and use Qian Hu’s proprietary recirculation aquaculture system, he noted.
Investing in the future
Koh told BT that some US$500,000 has been invested in the facility thus far. The figure is expected to double to US$1 million to complete the buildout of the property. Renovation is expected to end by September.
The goal is to develop a sustainable aquaculture and marine fisheries ecosystem, he said.
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“In Singapore, the problem is labour. Over here, it’s not about labour but the cost of the feed,” he explained. Generally, feed makes up some 30 per cent of product costs; labour accounts for another 20 to 30 per cent; and seed stock is another five to 10 per cent.
To lower costs toan optimal 50 per cent of the product price, Timor Aquahub plans to work with local Timorese fisherfolk. It intends to bring in specialists to train, and loan equipment – such as boats, specialised traps and cold-chain solutions – to locals keen on selling their catch or farming fish for the company.
These initiatives are expected to enhance catch volumes, product quality, post-harvest handling while generating greater efficiencies and cost savings in the long run, Koh said.
Over the next six months, the company intends to engage more than 200 fisherfolk across Timor-Leste, by conservative estimates, Koh told BT. It already has boots on the ground in the southern coastal city of Suai, and intends to venture eastward to Betano village, before expanding its presence across the entire southern coast of the country.
“We need to produce a proper ecosystem,” said Koh. “Right now, there’s no fishing industry here (except for) a very small, localised one,” he said.
Local Timorese selling fish at a makeshift market in Dili. Fishing is a predominantly small-scale and artisanal industry in Timor-Leste, largely for subsistence. PHOTO: GOH RUOXUE, BT
Timor-Leste’s fishing industry is almost entirely made up of small-scale fisheries and traditional fisherfolk, most of whom engage in the trade for subsistence. Local fisherfolk sell their catch in makeshift markets or by hawking in the streets.
By growing the industry, the company hopes for Timor-Leste to become a destination for the production, transit and export of high-value marine products, said Koh. This includes lobsters, mud crabs and other high-end commodities such as sea cucumbers.
“We are not here to steal from (locals). We are hoping to come and transfer our technology and skills... That’s the only way we can keep a long-running business (and) a constant channel of good stock that is also sustainable.”
Sea of opportunities
As Timor-Leste accelerates efforts to diversify from petroleum amid dwindling reserves, the government formally established in February the blue economy as a central pillar of national development – with the priority areas of marine ecotourism, aquaculture and fisheries.
While nascent, the nation’s growing aquaculture industry has vast potential, thanks to natural geographic advantages.
It is one of six countries that sit in the Coral Triangle – an ocean region between South-east Asia and the Pacific known as the “Amazon of the Seas”, and is home to some of the world’s most biodiverse waters. It has a coastline of more than 700 km, nearly four times that of Singapore’s.
On the drawing board
The next phase of Timor Aquahub’s operations in Timor-Leste involves the production of marketable seafood, beginning with the stocking and cultivation of eggs, juvenile fish, lobsters and crabs, among other marine species, said Koh.
This includes the construction of a second facility in Dili: a seaside hatchery, by a mangrove area, estimated to cost some US$2 million to develop.
Koh told BT that the Timorese government has committed land to the project, and that Timor Aquahub is targeting completion in some three years. The development’s expansion will be phased, so profits from its capital injection can be ploughed back to the company’s subsequent growth, he noted.
The second phase of Timor Aquahub’s operations will include a hatchery by the coast in Dili. PHOTO: GOH RUOXUE, BT
Koh has been in the fishery industry for more than two decades, mainly in Indonesia. He started out as a fisherman, moved on to farming, became a hatchery technician, trader and now focuses on business development.
Qian Hu was established in 1998 and listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2000. It is engaged in the distribution of more than 1,000 types of ornamental fish, as well as the manufacturing and distribution of aquarium accessories and pet products.
It is also in the aquaculture business, having ventured into fish farming, seafood trading and technology-driven farming solutions.
“Full potential is on the horizon,” Koh concluded. “You just need to look for it because it is the land of opportunity here. Singapore could start off with nothing, but you can start off with many things here.”
