June 23, 2009

Rising feed prices have forced a significant number of catfish, shrimp and livestock breeders in the southern region to give up their occupations.

 

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), more than 30 percent of catfish breeders in the Cuu Long, Mekong Delta have stopped their business due to losses caused by high fish-feed prices.

 

The rise in fish-feed prices was mainly responsible for a loss of VND1,000 on every kilogramme of catfish, said Le Viet Tien, a catfish breeder in Tien Giang province.

 

Many shrimp ponds in the region were also idle for the same reason. The shrimp breeding area in Bac Lieu Province had fallen from 10,000 hectare last year to 2,000 hectare this year.

 

Farmers who raise pigs and chickens were also suffering losses due to the rise in animal feed prices that changed five times last month.

 

A poultry farmer lost up to VND3,000 per kilogramme of products because one kilogramme of chicken costs VND22,000 to produce, but had to be sold for just VND19,000, said Pham Van Minh, who owns a farm in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Minh said many chicken breeders would stop their business if this trend of rising feed prices and falling chicken prices in the market continued.

 

Le Van Doan, who breeds pigs in Tien Giang, lamented that for every 100 kilogrammes, he had to spend VND2 million on food, VND1.4 million for piglets and bear several other expenses, but his selling price for this quantity was just VND3.3 million.

 

On the other hand, the Animal Feed Association said catfish was selling at VND16,500 a kilogramme, up about VND3,000 over the last five months.

 

An association official said the rise in animal feed prices of around VND160 per kilogramme, therefore, was reasonable and would have no impact on breeders.

 

However, the peak prices, according to catfish breeders, lasted for a very short time, and selling prices were currently just VND14,000 per kilogramme.

 

Experts noted that while livestock breeders had expanded production over last year by 15 to 20 percent, the area for catfish and shrimp breeding in the Mekong Delta had reduced sharply by 50 percent.

 

US$1 = VND17,765 (June 23)