June 22, 2005

Vietnam to revisit its outlook on catfish farming

The Vietnamese Ministry of Fisheries has decided to re-look into its plans on "tra" and "basa" catfish farming in the period from 2005-2010 after taking into account the often fluctuating prices of these fish, and also their unplanned rearing in the Mekong delta region.

Under the original plan, the country targeted an output of 1 million tonnes of "tra" and "basa" catfish each year between the present year and 2010. The Fisheries Ministry wants to revise the annual output to 500,000 tonnes, while the Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning has proposed to set the output at 350,000 tonnes.