Tra prices rise, but ponds remain idle

In the Mekong Delta, tra prices have escalated to 17,000 dong per kilo, an increase of 3000 dong per kilo over the same period of 2009. Yet farmers are leaving their fish ponds idle.

Farming areas down sharply

According to the Dong Thap Aquaculture Association, in 2008, there was 1800 hectare of water for tra fish farming in the province. Since then, the area has decreased by half. An Giang province faces the same situation: 50 percent of the previous 1400 hectares of fish farming areas are now used for other purposes.

Farmers maintain that, over the last two years, the tra fish price was always below production costs, forcing them to incur severe losses

“We lost 1000 dong and sometimes 2000 dong for every kilo of fish. We have lost all our money. Now we do not have any money to resume farming,” lamented Le Thi Thuy.

Hong Ngu district in Dong Thap province was once considered the main supply source of fish breeders in the Mekong Delta. Many households here now have sold all the parent fish and do not produce breeders any more.

Khuong Minh Khuan observed that previously, the commune had 20 establishments producing small young fish for breeding. Now only a handful still exist.

“Some years ago, we sold more than one million breeders a month, estimated Le Van Nghia. “This year so far only several households have ordered several dozens of thousands of breeders. A lot of households have given up farming, and they do not need to purchase breeders any longer.”

Higher production costs, low sale prices

Farmers calculated that about 17,000 dong is the average price of this white-meat fish, but they are sold at 16,500 dong per kilo.

When asked why they don’t resume farming the tra fish now that the price has risen, one farmer replied that “In general, though the fish price has been increasing, the input materials have also been going up even more sharply.”

“Industrial fish feed has jumped in price five times so far this year,” another farmer explained. The price of fish breeders has also increased since there are fewer producers. Other costs, like electricity, labor and medicine, have also escalated.

According to Duong Nghia Quoc, Deputy Director of Dong Thap, production costs far exceeded 17,000 dong per kilo, which means that farmers still are not making profits.

Materials shortage warned

A director of an enterprise specializing in developing farming areas revealed that he is considering cutting back the farming area because of overly high production costs.

“Previously, in order to have 5000 tons of fish, I needed only 70 billion dong. Now I must have 80 billion dong for the same volume of fish,” he calculated.

As farmers give up, processing workshops worry that they will lack materials. Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development admitted that many provincial workshops have cut down capacity by 30-50 percent because they do not have enough materials to process.

VietNamNet/Tuoi tre

Tags: Vietnam Seafood, Vietnam seafood exports, Vietnam Tra fish, Vietnam Tra prices