Tra fish prices bounce back after long slump

Processors buy the fish for VND22,000-VND22,500 per kilogramme, an increase of VND4,000 since early March.

This allows farmers to earn profits of VND2,000-3,000 per kilogramme.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta has more than 6,000ha oftra fish farms, mainly in the provinces of Dong Thap, Ben Tre, An Giang, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Tien Giang.

With prices below break-even levels, many farmers incurred big losses and stopped raising the fish.

The remaining farms belong mostly to companies and farmers that have contracts with enterprises.

Thus, the increase in prices only benefits a modest number of independent farmers.

Nguyen Ngoc Hai, director of the Thoi An Seafood Co-operative in Can Tho, said the number of tra fish farmers without contracts account for less than 10%.

Contracted farmers may only make small profits, but they are stable and not affected by price volatility.

Dang Van Ngon, a farmer in Thoi An Commune in Can Tho, said he has had a contract with a tra fish processing firm for a few years and has earned steady profits of VND1,500-2,000 per kilogramme.

While it does not offer high profits, it is a sustainable model based on mutual benefit, he said.

“I signed contracts to breed 300 tonnes of tra fish in our two ponds.”

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters, tra exports in the first two months of 2016 were worth USUS$237.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%.

The US and EU were the key markets, accounting for 40.5% of the exports, it said.

Anti-dumping duties

The Vietnam Competition Authority said that according to a US Department of Commerce decision, the US’s anti-dumping rate on tra fish fillets imported from Vietnam between August 2013 and July 2014 was US$0.41-US$2.39 per kilogramme.

Accordingly, the two compulsory defendants, Hùng Vương Corporation and Thuận An Production Trading and Service Co, Ltd, will now have to pay duties of US$0.41 and US$0.97 per kilogramme, respectively.

The rates are a bit higher than the DOC’s preliminary decision in January of US$0.36 and US$0.84.

The tax imposed on 14 other voluntary defendants was US$0.69.

In addition, a national rate of US$2.39 remains applicable to other companies exporting tra fish fillets to the US.

Both compulsory and voluntary defendants have to pay a deposit on their exports this year at the tax rate stated in the DOC’s final decision.

An exporter said the high anti-dumping tax is causing difficulties for Vietnamese firms in exporting the fish to the US.