Minimum export and procurement prices for tra catfish will be set at the beginning of next year to help both breeders and processors avoid losses, says an official of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Photo: Tuoi Tre " style="text-decoration:none"> Photo: Tuoi Tre
Minimum export price of US$2.8 per kilo would be set while breeders selling the fish would earn a minimum price of VND20,000 ($1) a kilo, said Duong Ngoc Minh, deputy chairman of VASEP.
The regulation on floor prices aims to bring the price of catfish to its true value and ensure profits for both breeders and processors. It would also help avoid unhealthy competition which leads to reduction in export prices and affects the quality of catfish products, said VASEP.
Those who violate the floor price rules will come under the spotlight and suspended from export.
The purchase price of catfish is now VND18,500 ($0.9) per kilogram and the average export price is $2.7 per kilogram.
Exports of catfish products are not likely to meet this year's target of US$1.5 billion because of declining prices and orders.
In the first nine months of the year, 472,586 tons of the fish worth some $1 billion were exported, so the remaining half a billion US dollar may be out of reach in the remaining three months, the association said.
VASEP estimates the value of catfish export this year to reach about $1.37 billion.
The quantity of catfish exported between July and October was usually higher than the previous months of the year.
But the trend was reversed this year because export orders during this period fell compared to the same period last year. Export prices, including to the US market, had fallen since early this year to record lows.
The situation was exacerbated by the US imposing an anti-dumping tariff of 130 percent on Vietnamese catfish products, and several other markets had also set up technical barriers to limit imports.
Several countries including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, had also developed catfish breeding with financial support from their governments, adding to market supply.