In Bac Lieu town, black tiger shrimp is selling at VND75,000-VND80,000/kg (30 shrimp per kilogramme) or VND60,000-VND65,000/kg (40 shrimp per kilogramme), which means farmers are losing between VND30,000-VND40,000/kg on every kilogramme of shrimp compared to last year.
Luong Le Phuong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), said that global shrimp consumption has been decreasing sharply because of the global recession.
Exports to the US and Japan, the main markets for Vietnamese shrimp exports, have also fallen sharply, while domestic shrimp material prices have dropped to the deepest low in the past decade.
Farmers in Bac Lieu province have had a good shrimp harvest, but this is not bringing them much profit, because the frozen export markets have brought a fall in prices.
Many shrimp processing workshops have stopped collecting shrimp, while farmers still have to pay for food for aquaculture, and veterinary medicine to maintain their shrimp ponds. In-put prices have risen two- or three-fold compared to last year and many farmers are selling shrimp cheaply just to maintain their ponds
Because of the stagnant exports, big seafood processing companies, including Minh Phu and Phuong Nam, have also cut the amount of shrimp they are collecting.
Black Tiger Shrimp Drops to 10-Year Low
VIET NAM - Though Cuu Long River Delta provinces have entered the final stage of shrimp harvesting, the shrimp price on the market has been sliding continuously.
