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Tiger prawn prices up but tra fish all at sea
Prices of tra fish and tiger prawn are moving in opposite directions in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, with the former declining and the latter rising.
In early July tra prices went down sharply, leaving farmers unhappy.
Le Chi Binh, deputy chairman of An Giang Aqua-Culture Association, said the price of grade 1 tra stood at VND18,500-19,000 per kilogramme on July 24, leaving breeders to count losses of VND3,000 per kilogramme.
Plentiful supply from farms in the region and lower export prices are major causes for the decline in the local market, Binh said.
As a result, tra fish breeding ponds in An Giang, one of the provinces with the largest pond area in the delta, have shrunk by 18 per cent from last year to 779 ha.
The area, once around 2,200ha, could drop further as many farmers have given up breeding tra after the last harvest and switched to other kinds of fish.
Tong Minh Chanh, a tra farmer in Long Son commune in An Giang Province's Phu Tan District, said to avoid further losses from exports, he switched to farming the fish for domestic consumption, but the situation has not improved.
"I've decided to farm fry and breed loach," he told Viet Nam News.
Farmers also face problems when selling tra since buyers have many other sources of supply.
Le Van Loc of Tan Nhuan Dong commune in Dong Thap Province's Chau Thanh District, said he had two hectares of mature tra (of 600-700 grammes each, market price VND20,500-21,000 per kilogramme), but buyers were late to come.
But once the fish becomes overd (over 700 grammes), prices fall to just VND18,000-19,000.
Unlike tra farmers, however, prawn farmers are happy because prices have gone up relentlessly in the past few months. Prawns weighing 50 grammes are now selling for VND230,000-240,000 per kilogramme, and those weighing 25 grammes fetch VND155,000.
Tran Thanh Tan, a farmer in Kien Giang Province's An Minh District, had sold 600kg of prawn from his 2ha pond.
He said if farmers harvest 250-300kg per hectare, they can get some profits since costs are not too high.
Many businesses too have invested in shrimp farming.
According to Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the Kien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's aquaculture division, farmers and businesses in the province have nearly 2,000 ha of shrimp farms, mainly in the Long Xuyen Quadrilateral.
vietnamenws
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