The price of white-leg shrimp in Mekong Delta continues to increase sharply

The price of white-leg shrimp in Mekong Delta continues to increase sharply

White-leg shrimp in Mekong Delta is increasingly purchased by factories 2-3 times in just one day. However, the amount of large-sized shrimp now is not much.

On the morning of October 14, the owners of large-scale shrimp farms in Tran De district continued to harvest white-leg shrimp when many factories stepped up their purchases after the Khmer people's Dolta festival. Mr. Luu Truong Giang - representative of a local seafood purchasing business - said the price of white-leg shrimp increased by 3,000-7,000 VND/kg compared to a day ago.

In Lich Hoi Thuong commune of Tran De district, Mr. D.H.O harvested 9 tons of white-leg shrimp with the size of 90 pcs/kg, raised in 3 lined ponds. With this size, Mr. O.'s shrimp sells for 90,000 VND/kg, earning over 300 million VND in profit.

According to Mr. Luu Truong Giang, Mr. O.'s method of raising white-leg shrimp is to raise the seed in the pond for 3-4 weeks and then transfer the shrimp to another pond. After a month of living in the clean environment of the new pond, the shrimp population grows quickly, the damage rate is low.

Shrimp prices are still increasing strongly

“After 60-70 days of stocking, white-leg shrimp raised according to Mr. O.'s model reached the size of 80-90 shrimp per kilogram. If you sell at this time, the investment in food is still small, if you meet a high price, you will earn a lot of profit, "said Giang.

Harvesting white shrimp in Tran De district, Soc Trang morning October 15. Photo:  Truong Giang.

Currently, white-leg shrimp of 20 pcs/kg is bought by traders in Soc Trang at farmers' ponds for 230,000 VND/kg, and 25 pcs/kg is 175,000 VND/kg. The price of 30 pcs/kg is 154,000 VND, 40 pcs/kg is 132,000, 50 pcs/kg is 122,000, 60 pcs/kg is 108,000, 70 pcs/kg is 103,000, 80 pcs/kg is 98,000, 90 pcs/kg is 90,000, and 100 pcs/kg is 85,000 VND.

At shrimp factories in Soc Trang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, white-leg shrimp of 20 pcs/kg was purchased by enterprises for 240,000 VND/kg, 30 pcs/kg was 160,000-165,000, 40 pcs/kg was 140,000-145,000 and 100 pcs/kg was 90,000- 95,000 VND/kg.

Speaking to  Zing , Mr. Vo Van Phuc - Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of Vietnam Clean Seafood Joint Stock Company - said that shrimp prices are fluctuating strongly, sometimes increasing 2-3 times. According to Mr. Phuc, the price of white-leg shrimp is expected to increase by 10,000-20,000 VND/kg because the output from now to the end of the year will gradually decrease until the end of the crop.

“Large farms are being cleaned by farmers to stock the new crop. If stocking in December, then there will be many shrimps again in March of next year. Currently, production costs are high, businesses have to spend more money to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic. The cost of ships carrying shrimp to export abroad increased by more than 10 times. This year's freights alone, my company paid an additional 150 billion VND, " Phuc shared.

Enterprises make big investments in farming areas

According to Mr. Vo Van Phuc, after the Dolta ceremony, workers in areas with a large number of Khmer people have returned to work, but the number of workers has not increased much. The reason is enterprises can't pick up workers in some localities with lots of F0 in Vinh Chau town, Tran De and My Xuyen districts. Therefore, Vietnam's Clean Seafood only has about 2,200 workers in production workshops (peak 4,000 workers).

In order to take the initiative in raw materials, large enterprises such as Tai Kim Anh Co., Ltd., Vietnam Clean Seafood, Khanh Sung Company, Sao Ta Company ... have invested heavily in farming areas. In Soc Trang, Tran De district and Vinh Chau town are two closed shrimp farming areas of seafood processing enterprises for export.

Currently, the farming area of ​​Vietnam Clean Seafood is 136 hectares, because the business buys land by itself to dig shrimp ponds. In addition to the land value which has not been calculated, Mr. Phuc has invested over  250 billion VND  in the farming area to harvest over 3,000 tons of vannamei shrimp each year.

Processing shrimp for export at Vietnam's Clean Seafood. Photo:  Nhat Tan.

Talking to  Zing , Ms. Quach Thi Thanh Binh - Deputy Director of Fisheries Sub-Department of Soc Trang province - said that compared to the same period in 2020, the price of white-leg shrimp is higher from 2,000-16,000 VND/kg depending on the size. Particularly, shrimp size 20 pcs/kg, the price is higher than last year to 60,000 VND/kg.

From the beginning of the year until now, the whole province of Soc Trang has raised over 64,569 hectares, reaching more than 87% of the plan and equaling 98% of the same period, with an estimated harvest of 161,472 tons. Currently, people and businesses have harvested over 32,345 hectares with a total production of more than 142,478 tons (whiteleg shrimp 131,370.7 tons, black tiger shrimp 11,107.7 tons).

The area of ​​shrimp that has been damaged since the beginning of the year in Soc Trang is 2,595.3 ha (2,071.1 ha), accounting for 5.3% of the farming area, 722.4 ha lower than the same period of last year 2020.

Source: zingnews.vn, SEABINA GROUP's translation