Diesel price hike hits fishing in Ca Mau

Many fishermen in the southernmost province of Ca Mau have stopped going out to sea after diesel prices were hiked by a whopping 40 percent this month.

Since the beginning of May Song Doc fishing port in Tran Van Thoi Commune, one of the biggest in the Mekong Delta region, usually bustling and noisy, has been quiet.

Many boats remain beached.

Ho Thuy Mai, owner of Quoc Nam fish trading center, said she can buy only six tons of fish a day compared to the normal 10 tons.

She buys small fish to sell to fish powder and sausage manufacturing plants.

A manager at Song Doc port said the total catch arriving at the port has fallen from 100 tons a day before the diesel price hike to just 70 tons now, and this is likely to fall further.

Chien, who runs an icehouse, said his plant only sold 300 slabs a day last week compared to 2000-3000 normally.

But Truong Quoc Binh, chairman of the Camau Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters, said the price of fish cannot be based on diesel prices. – Tuoitre

Posted by VBN on May 10 2011. Filed under Agriculture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry