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Tra fish price hits record high
The price of tra catfish (Pangasius) has hit an all-time high of VND25,000 -26,000 per kilogram in the Mekong Delta.
With this price, farmers can earn a profit of VND3, 000-4,000 per kilogram, though they cannot benefit from this at the moment as there is currently no more fish to sell.
At present, seafood companies operate at only 60-70 percent of their capacity.
According to Agriculture and Rural Development departments in the Mekong Delta provinces, in spite of fish prices being high, many farmers are unable to benefit as they cannot breed another crop of fish due to lack of funds.
Though banks have pledged to provide breeding funds, many fish breeders have been unable to access the funds despite the high lending interest rates.
Le Chi Binh, Vice Chairman of the An Giang Aquaculture and Seafood Processing Association, said that catfish breeders have neglected to farm the fish because of fund shortage and hike in fish-feed prices.
If these problems are not resolved soon there could be a severe shortage of the fish by the end of this year, greatly affecting the tra export turnover, he added.
Huynh Loi – Hoang Yen
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