Tra fish production up, but prices fall

Workers at Song Tien Seafood Co in southern Dong Thap Province process tra fish for export. VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue

The Fisheries Department, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said from early this year to mid-August, farmers achieved a total output of 770,000 tonnes of tra fish, 5.3 per cent higher than the same period of last year.

The increase in output has pushed the price of tra fish down by VND2,000 per kilo to 19,000-22,000, so both farmers and enterprises suffered losses, they said.

In the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, some of total 70 tra fish export processors need to operate moderately due to a lack of capital, with some owing farmers huge sums of money.

Farmers, on their part, also had no money to invest in production.

During the first seven months of this year, tra fish export values declined, year-on-year, 0.6 per cent to US$985 million, the department said.

Nguyen Van Kich, general director of Cafatex, a seafood export processor in Hau Giang Province, said the industry had a surplus and the selling price was fixed by buyers not sellers, while exports experienced difficulties due to technical and commercial barriers.

To solve the surplus, the state should control exporters, as well as market supply and demand, Kich said. It should also review the current plan on the production of tra fish to connect production with sales.

Additionally, Nguyen Huu Dung, VASEP deputy chairman, said exporters should study export prices and customer's tastes on many export markets, but not focus on some markets.

State management should be promoted to ensure the quality of tra fish products and the trade mark of Vietnamese tra fish, Dung said.

Nguyen Huy Dien, deputy director of the Fisheries Department, said in the near future, the provincial people's committees should push for investigations into the quality of raw tra fish to ensure the quality of tra fish products.

Vu Van Tam, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, said enterprises should restructure export markets, expand outlets to China and Eastern European countries, restructure production and promote co-operation with farmers.

The ministry would strengthen management of tra fish varieties and turn out products of high quality, Tam said.

The department said Viet Nam expected to achieve a total tra fish export value of $1.7-1.8 billion for the whole year.