Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Tra fish export value is expected to exceed 2billion USD this year, higher than the industry’s target, according to experts.
Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP), said tra fish exports will continue toincrease in the last months of this year so total export value will reach 2.1billion USD, up 22 percent compared to 2017.
The export value of this product in the first nine months of the year surgedyear-on-year by 24 percent to 1.6 billion USD, the association said.
Hoe was quoted by congthuong.vn as saying that from late September to now, theprice for raw material of tra fish in the Mekong River delta hasstood at 35,000-36,000 VND (1.5-1.55 USD) per kilo. With that price, farmersearn from 6,000 VND to 9,000 VND per kilo.
Now, tra fish processing enterprises are purchasing raw materials to processexport products for higher demand on global markets by the end of 2018.
However, they have faced a shortage of raw material for export processingbecause many farmers have stopped tra fish production as they lack fingerlings,Hoe said.
Nguyen Thi Anh, Director of the Song Tien Seafood Company (SOTICO), agreed thereis a lack of raw material of tra fish for export processing by the end of thisyear. Therefore, her company has not signed more export contracts for tra fishproducts with foreign partners.
"There is not enough high quality fingerling of tra in the market, makingincrease in price of fingerling and affecting supply of export tra fish in thelast months of this year," Anh said.
Experts said one solution would be localities re-planning their productionentirely. They should strengthen application of science and technology,diversify export products and markets, and give priority for value addedproducts. – VNS/VNA
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