The over production crisis in 2008 had affected the price of tra fish which has been recovered and is being sold at 16,000 VND/kg. with this price, fish farmers are not loss. But the crisis affected the industry so badly that fish farming is not attractive any more as fish farmers don’t believe it is the real price. Fish farmers are still short of fish material.
Hai Tin, the owner of 1.8 ha fish farm in Thoi Thanh ward, Thoi Lai district, Can Tho province was bargaining with an aquatic feed sales representative asking for discount but the bargain was unsuccessful. He told that fish farmers now have to consider very carefully, as fish price is not high, they have to manage their cost price strictly. He added, from beginning of the year until now, the sales volume of his company decreased 50% against beginning of 2008.
Hai Tin is one of minority of people in this area can maintain fish farming, as he invest by his own capital. Majority of other fish farmers leave their ponds idle or change to farm fish for Hung Vuong Joint Stock Company in which fish farmers pay for labour cost to farm fish only, other expenses such as: feed, veterinary medicine.
According to Department of Aquaculture under Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the fish farming situation was very quite recently, the increase of new farming area was not much. Official figure shows that currently, tra fish farming area is 30 percent less than the same period last year causing the shortage of material for processing for months end of this year.
The decrease of fish farming area brought about the fall of related services such as: feed and breeds supplying in Hoan Thanh pangasius breeding center. Nguyen Dinh Huan, vice general director of Agifish also agreed that there has been no sign of recovery of consumption market. He opined that export sales of Agifish dropped 30 percent for the first months this year.
