Tra fish demand outstrips supply

Many European and US importers looking to buy Vietnamese tra fish products at the Food and Hotel Exhibition in HCM City last month were unhappy because local exporters could not meet their increasing demand.

Nguyen Van Ky, General Director of Agrifish An Giang, says he had to refuse an order for 20 containers of tra products per month by an American buyer for fear of insufficient supply.

According to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta has over 120 tra processing plants that require some 5,000 tonnes of fish per day in the fourth quarter.

However, Deputy Chairman of the association Duong Ngoc Minh says supply would be less than 4,000 tonnes.

The shortage forced tra prices up to VND26,500 per kilogramme by September 30, a VND1,000 rise in two weeks.

Luu Bach Thao, Director of the Viet An Seafood Processing JSC, blames processors without their own tra farms and traders for forcing prices up.

But even companies with such farms face shortages.

VASEP Deputy Chairman Minh, who is also general director of the Hung Vuong Seafood JSC, says his company is unable to get the 12,000 tonnes it needs in the next three months to meet its annual production targets.

"As a result, we have to reduce our tra exports from 400 containers to 350 a month."

Insufficient supply of fries and fingerlings for breeding is to blame for the shortages, he explains.

This is due to the sell-off of fish breeding farms last year when their owners suffered huge losses due to the depressed markets, he further explains.

The cost of tra fries rose from VND29,000 per kilogramme in early September to VND36,000 by September 30.

VASEP says while the global economic crisis will have little impact on the industry, the insufficient supply of fish will hit exports in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first half of next year.

In addition to traditional markets such as the EU and the US, Vietnamese exporters have expanded their tra market to South America, the association says.

Le Hung Vong

vietnamnews

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