Flooding sends tra fish price up
By Thai Hang - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Severe floods have struck large tra fish farming areas such as An Giang and Dong Thap provinces while demand for tra export is running high, leading to a price increase.
The price of tra fish this week has inched up by VND1,000-2,000 to VND27,500 per kg and is still on the rise, said Nguyen Van Ky, general director of An Giang Fisheries Import and Export Co.
Tra fish weighing 0.8-1 kilogram and 1.2 kilogram is priced at over VND27,000 and VND25,000 respectively.
Ky is expecting higher buying of importers in the next ten days due to the preparation for the festive season.
“Tra fish sellers, in general, still keep the price at the same level as one or two months ago while material fish prices have soared. Exporters, if buying fish these days, may bear high risks,” Ky said.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Hai, head of Thoi An Cooperative in Can Tho City, said there have been some firms buying at VND27,500 per kg. With this price, farmers can make a profit of over VND5,000 each kg, excluding farming costs.
“However, the current high price can make locals turn to farming more fish, which may lead to an excess after the Lunar New Year,” Hai said.
Vietnam’s tra fish export turnover reached nearly US$68 million in the first half of September, up 23.5% from the same period last year and reached US$1.2 billion in the January-September period, a year-on-year rise of about 30%, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep).