August 25, 2009

Vietnam's export of tra and basa catfish has started to recover, according to delegates on Friday (Aug 21).

 

Delegates met to review the production and consumption of the product in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region.

 

Vietnam has exported 334,000 tonnes of tra and basa catfish in the past eight months, worth an estimated US$737 million.

 

This made the sector the top foreign currency earner among seafood exporters, said vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Importers (VASEP) Nguyen Huu Dung.

 

Exports of catfish have shown signs of recovery in many markets, except in Russia where distorted publicity said Vietnam did not ensure the quality of the product.

 

However, the Russian side has now agreed to import 10,000 tonnes of tra and basa catfish a month from September.

 

Vietnam is expected to export US$1.4 billion worth of catfish this year.

 

Nguyen Van Dao, director general of Go Dang Joint Stock Company in My Tho Industrial Zone in southern Tien Giang Province, said catfish exports were recovering as a result of economic recovery in key markets - and because of the seafood sectors efforts in seeking new markets.

 

Dao added that the recent establishment of processing companies and a trend to raise catfish on a large-scale would help.

 

Land set aside for catfish farms in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region has reached 5,154ha, an increase of 597ha compared with last year.

 

Farmers in the region have harvested 457,000 tonnes of tra and basa catfish so far this year, seeing an increase of 13.5 percent per month.

 

At present, Vietnam has 110 plants producing 4.3 million tonnes of fish feed a year, including 88 plants producing feed for tra and basa catfish.

 

Since June, processing companies have reduced the price of tra and basa catfish to VND13,500-VND15,500 per kilogramme.

 

The drop was attributed to large stocks of the fish plus a reduction in fish prices in some markets. In the European Union, prices fell from US$2.63 to US$2.47 a kg.

 

To help ease production and processing difficulties, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, said there was a need to expand key markets in the European Union, Russia, the Middle East and the US.