Shortages of material tra fish continue

The price of tra fish (pangasius) in the Mekong Delta is increasing amid shortages of breeding fish in the past five months, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The price of tra fish (pangasius) in the Mekong Delta is increasing amid shortages of breeding fish in the past five months, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The price of tra fish stood at 27,000 - 29,000 VND per kilogramme at the start of this year. The figures have reached a new height, hitting 31,000-33,000 VND per kilogramme. Meanwhile, prices of breeding fish stayed at 75,000 - 85,000 VND per kilogramme, up twofold against the same period last year.

The MARD said the supply of material tra fish for export in 2018 will be limited, while the prices of exported tra fish may remain high for the whole year.

People in the Mekong Delta province have worked to breed the fish again, while agencies have enhanced monitoring to discover unregistered tra fish breeding and conducted checks on environmental conditions and wastewater to prevent pollution.  

Tra fish output in Mekong Delta provinces in the first five months of the year was estimated to hit 485,300 tonnes, up three percent year-on-year.

Vietnam’s tra fish exports reached 1.8 billion USD in 2017, up 4 percent against 2016, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In the first quarter of 2018, export turnover of tra fish reached 438.2 million USD, an increase of 18 percent year-on-year, VASEP reported.

Some markets recorded strong growth such as China’s Hong Kong (45 percent), the United States (22.7 percent), and ASEAN with 56.5 percent.

Meanwhile, tiger prawn trading in the first five months of 2018 remained stable, while the price of white-legged shrimp saw a sharp decline, affected by global prices and price cuts by global shrimp exporters.

The output of brackish water shrimp nationwide in five months reached 176,000 tonnes, representing a rise of 14.4 percent year-on-year.