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Tra and basa catfish prices slightly increase in the Mekong Delta
Despite a slight increase in the price of tra and basa catfish, many breeders have suffered serious losses and stopped farming. It is predicted that processors could run short of the catfish for production later this year.
Over the past two weeks, the price of tra and basa catfish in the Mekong Delta increased slightly to reach VND14,000-16,000 per kilo. Nevertheless, experts say that there is likely to be a shortage of catfish in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
Duong Ngoc Minh, Director of the Hung Vuong Co. Ltd, says that the prices of tra and basa will continue to rise in the next two months as the catfish volume has fallen by 40 percent. Many farmers have stopped breeding catfish due to their recent losses. However, if no measures are taken to resolve the problem, there will be a severe shortage of tra and basa catfish by early next year, Mr Minh says.
Many breeders complain that they have either owed bad debts to banks or failed to borrow additional capital due to high interest rates. Meanwhile, they have still faced losses due to low catfish and high feed prices. In An Giang province, catfish farming area has shrunk sharply, and nearly 50 percent of farms in the post-harvesting season have been left empty. In addition, farmers in Dong Thap province have stopped breeding tra and basa catfish on nearly 300ha.
According to Duong Quoc Nghia, Deputy Director of the Dong Thap provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, although the price of tra and basa rose slightly in the past week, farmers could not make a profit as the price was still less than the production costs, which are estimated at VND15,000-16,000/kilo.
VOV
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