Indifference to increasing Tra fish price

Erratic fluctuation

On the first days of April 2014, the price of Tra fish in localities still steadily increased. In some key Tra fish farming provinces such as Dong Thap, An Giang and Vinh Long,… the fish price rose and farmers at this time had profits of about 2,000 VND/kg. Current price is 25,500 – 26,000VND/kg.

Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Director of Thoi An Cooperative, O Mon district, Can Tho province, said that currently the cooperative has 10 fish farming ponds totalling 10 ha. They will harvest fish in over two months. With businesses buying fish with the price of 25,000 VND/kg, the members of the cooperative will gain a profit of 2,000 – 2,500 VND/kg. The average output of Tra fish per ha is 400 tons with a profit from 800 million VND to a billion VND.

In Mang Thit district, Vinh Long, the Tra fish price was fixed by traders with 25,000 VND/kg. Many members of the Tra fish Tan Phat Cooperative gained a profit of nearly 2,000 VND/kg.

However, Tra fish farmers, after suffering losses for a long time, had to “hang ponds”. Thus, when fish price increased, they did  not have any fish to sell. The profit to farmers is not much. Farmers who still had fish to sell are “veteran” in their profession. Most of the current Tra fish belongs to areas in which businesses invest by themselves, a small amount of fish is of businesses organized in the method of outsourcing fish farming owners.

From mid-March 2014, the price of Tra fish has continuously increased, but farmers are not excited – Photo: An Dang

Commenting on the current situation, many experts believe that 98% of farmed Tra fish output is used to serve export processing with the price fixed by businesses at only 3.5 USD/kg; however, when the products reach oversea consumers, the price is up to 5 – 6 USD/kg. Yet, that Tra fish farmers in the Mekong Delta want to gain a profit of 1,000 VND/kg is very difficult. And when the price is rising, they do not have fish to sell.

Watch out!

According to VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe, fish prices have recently increased because local harvesting fish sources stalled and farmers did not have capital to reinvest in production. Due to difficulties in the supply of raw materials, there is a shortage in the market.

Dong Thap Seafood Association said that many businesses are trying to become self-sufficient with material Tra fish source, but they only meet 60 – 65 percent, businesses still have to use the fish provide by farmers. At this time, many businesses have not reached harvest, they have to buy from outside, so they lack materials.

Besides, many experts confirmed that raising fish prices at the moment is not really sustainable. The price increases beacause of the lack of materials, not due to the rising export price. Businesses are still waiting for recovery from the difficult markets such as the US, Eastern Europe… Tra fish prices have not really been stable. Farmers are still having difficulties. Therefore, farmers should be cautious and not increase the area beyond planning. They should not rush to investing in mass fish farming because of rising prices. Sharply dropping prices will be repeated in case. Fish farmers should be careful about the optimistic information of the export market.

Close association

According to Hoe, at this time, the association cannot evaluate accurately and certainly how the export processing materials will proceed this year, but stabilizing demand and supply is very essential. The amount of material to stabilizing the market should be maintained from 800,000 – 1,000,000 tons. The forecast of development and market demand is very difficult due to the lack of statistics on farming area and the situation of material sources. Therefore, fish farmers should base themselves on the market demand, restricting the amount of farming in every province with quota, so as to avoid the situation of “every man for himself”. Many Tra fish farmers also hope to have association with businesses, with stable and sustainable profits guaranteed for them and avoiding fluctuating vicious cycle of the market.