Soc Trang: Shrimp prices go up but farming costs go up as well 

Entering the brackish water shrimp crop in 2022, shrimp farmers across the Mekong Delta have a little more confidence as shrimp prices continue to remain high from the end of 2021 to the first 3 months of 2022. However, the unexpected fluctuations from the market made most of the raw materials and input materials increase sharply, causing the investment cost of the farming crop to increase as well.

Shrimp prices remained high from the end of 2021 until mid-April. This is good news, a motivation for shrimp farmers to gain a little more confidence to enter the new farming season of 2022. The prices of most raw materials and inputs for farming have been adjusted up 1-2 times from the beginning of the year until now, the cost of farming has increased to double digits. Adding a moment of confusion, worry and consideration of shrimp farmers. The same price movement increases, but gives shrimp farmers two opposing psychological states of joy and anxiety.

Currently, in most of the shrimp farming areas in the Mekong Delta have already stocked the main season of shrimp farming in 2022, so the demand for postlarvae, feed, raw materials and inputs for farming is very high. Although the price of shrimp of most sizes is still quite high, farmers are still worried when almost all input costs of the crop have increased sharply compared to the same period last year. Mr. Ngo Cong Luan - Director of Nong Ngu 14/10 cooperative Hoa Nho A, My Xuyen district (Soc Trang) said that the price of shrimp feed from the beginning of the year until now of most reputable brands have increased 2-3 times with a total increase of about 900 - 1,200 VND/kg depending on the brand. If compared to the same period in 2021, the price of shrimp feed is currently about 4,000-5,000 VND/kg higher, so if only the increase in feed price is taken into account, farmers will lose 6,000-7,000 VND in profit.

Postlarvae also increased, but according to farmers, not much, estimated at about 20 VND/PL; in which, the breeding stock of CP Livestock Joint Stock Company Vietnam (referred to as CP) has the highest price of about 154 - 159 VND/PL depending on shipping conditions, the rest of other brands also fluctuate around 130 VND/PL. Although there is still an increase in price, most breeders have an average promotion policy of 30 - 50%, sometimes up to 100%, so according to farmers, the above increase is almost trivial. In addition, the high price of gasoline, tarpaulin, steel frame... also contributes to an increase in production costs in this 2022 shrimp crop.

Regarding the situation of increasing input prices for shrimp farming, Huynh Xuan Dien - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tan Hung Cooperative, in Cai Nuoc district (Ca Mau) joked: "Since I knew how to raise shrimp until now, the price of PL and feed are almost the same and all kinds of input materials for shrimp farming next year are higher than previous year and this year is no exception. In general, farmers are familiar with the increase, even though I know that every time's increasing then my profit is eroded a bit. For example, from the beginning of the year until now, the price of feed has only increased by about 4%, but unfortunately, the cost of feed accounts for 60-70% of the total cost of the crop, so for every additional percentage, farmers lose one substantial portion of the profits”.

Shrimp prices of most sizes are still relatively high, but farmers are still worried about almost all input costs. Photo: SEABINA GROUP

If the breed, food only increased by 1 digit, other materials, medicines, chemicals have increased by 2-3 digits. Huynh Han Chau, a shrimp farming household in Tran De district (Soc Trang), listed: chlorine increased by 100%, potassium permanganate by nearly 50%, aquatic veterinary drugs by about 30%, other materials by about 30%. Mr. Chau calculated: “If you take it all into account, the cost for this year's crop will increase by about 20-25%, because the price of feed increases is not high, but it accounts for most of the cost in the farming season. In other words, in this year's farming crop, each kilogram of harvested shrimp will have to carry about 20,000-25,000 VND more in investment costs. Fortunately, the price of shrimp is still high at the moment, so farmers still have an incentive to invest, otherwise it will be very difficult."

"Fortunately", that is the catchphrase of shrimp farmers when talking about the problem of farming efficiency this year. "Will that luck still be maintained until the shrimp season in the big harvest comes here"? I asked and was answered by Mr. Ngo Thanh Tuan, from Hoa Nghia Shrimp Farming Cooperative, Hoa Dong commune, Vinh Chau town (Soc Trang) shook his head and said: “In my opinion, it is very difficult because according to the annual rule, the shrimp price decreases more or less every harvest season. This year, many forecast that the shrimp export market will be more favorable, the price will be better, but the ability of raw shrimp to keep the current good price will also be very difficult. It is difficult to say because in the first months of the year there are few shrimps, businesses are forced to buy high prices, so when the harvest is in full swing, they will buy at a reduced price, in order to balance profits for the whole year.

Mr. Tuan's comment is completely grounded when discussing with shrimp processing and exporting enterprises, they all admit that the efficiency in the first months of the year is not high due to little raw materials and high prices, so when in the high harvest season, factories have to reduce the purchase prices. However, according to businesses, this year's shrimp price is likely to be better than the previous 2 years and to ensure good profits, farmers should raise many stages, or harvest partly and raise shrimp to large sizes (20 - 30 shrimp/kg for white-leg shrimp) because the price of large-size shrimp would not decrease much, due to the high demand for large-size shrimp but limited supply. Thus, it can be seen that, although there is concern about the sharp increase in the price of raw materials and inputs, for farmers, the high or low price of raw material shrimp at harvest is important, because this is the main decisive factor to the profitability of the whole crop.

Source: Tich Chu - Soc Trang Newspaper