Vietnam's seafood processors may run into a shortage of tra catfish by year-end, as many farmers have given up on tra farming.
 

There is currently an abundant supply of tra catfish and farmers are busy looking for buyers for their oversized fish. However, experts have warned that it would be a very different situation by year-end.

Tra farmers are incurring losses as they could not sell their fish and material prices remain low. As a result, many farmers in the Cuu Long River Delta have decided to leave the business after selling off their remaining fish.

The area of ponds left idle since the fish crop has reached 10-15 percent of the province's total farming area, according to the Dong Thap Aquaculture Association.

Over 30 percent of households in Chau Thanh district have left ponds idle, while some others have decreased farming scale to cut down on feed and breeding costs.

Phan Van Danh, chairman of the An Giang Agriculture and Seafood Processing Association, said that 20-30 percent of households no longer breed fish, and the remaining ones are small- and medium-sized farmers who mostly have decreased production.

In the first seven months of 2008, Vietnamese tra exports have a turnover of US$750 million, and it is expected that the turnover this year will increase by US$200 million over last year to US$1.2 billion, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).