Other fruits, grown for local consumption, include pineapples and oranges. Cotton, kapok, ramie, and raw silk are produced chiefly along the Mekong River. These products are used primarily by domestic artisans. The French began to establish rubber plantations east of the Mekong in the 1920s, and Cambodia is one of the chief rubber producers of the Far East. Livestock raising has a role in the economy, supplying draft animals for use in agriculture and local transportation and small amounts of meat for the urban population.
Fishes are a more commonly consumed product.
They are dried, salted, or made into sauces and pastes. The supply exceeds domestic needs, and the surplus is exported to Vietnam. A few types of light manufacturing had developed in Cambodia prior to 1965, but political unrest from then until 1979 stopped almost all production. Handicrafts also declined during this period of political turmoil. The economy began to recover in 1980, with operations in textiles, paper, cigarettes, glass, and soft drinks.