The market is "thirsty", Mai Phu clam warehouse is busy harvesting

People in Mai Lam village (Mai Phu commune) rush to harvest commercial clams on the alluvial grounds.

During this harvest, Mr. Pham Van Dau and Mrs. Pham Thi Huong's family in Mai Lam village (Mai Phu commune) expect to harvest about 18 tons of commercial clams weighing 80 - 90 kg/each.

For nearly half a month now, his family has sold about 13 tons, and is focusing on harvesting the rest to be able to plant a new batch. Although the output is not as expected, his family is still quite happy because the product is easy to sell, the price is high, reaching 16-17 thousand VND/kg for 80 pieces/kg (about 3 thousand VND/kg higher than the beginning of the year and about 4-5 thousand VND/kg higher than the end of last year).

Ms. Pham Thi Huong said: “Today, the tide was low at 3am, so we hired more people and machines to work at night to harvest clams. After 2 hours of hard work, we harvested about 2 tons of products. We took a break for about 3-4 hours, and at 10am, before the tide rose, we continued to harvest for the second time of the day. Although it was hard and tiring, everyone was very excited because the clams were priced well, traders came to buy them on site, and our worries were reduced when natural disasters and storms were complicated.”

The boat docks and the clams are transported to the processing area.

Like Mr. Dau and Mrs. Huong's family, dozens of farming households in Viet Hong Aquaculture Cooperative, Hung Thuan Aquaculture and Environmental Sanitation Services Cooperative, Loan Hoan Aquaculture, Purchasing, Import-Export Cooperative are all "concentrating" on harvesting clams. Every day, Mai Phu mollusk warehouse sells about 30 - 40 tons at the highest price in the past 2 years, bringing farmers about 500 - 600 million VND. In addition to the domestic market, this product is also consumed in Quang Tri, Hue, Quang Nam , Khanh Hoa...

Mr. Phan Van Ninh - a farmer in Cua Sot area said: "We are very excited because the price and market for commercial clams have "warmed up" in the context of the products being ready for exploitation, reaching firmness, needing to be sold out to "avoid" the rainy and stormy season, in time to plant new breeds... Especially, in recent days, due to the impact of natural disasters and floods, many large farming areas in the Northern region have not been able to harvest, leading to a scarce market, easy-to-sell goods, high prices. This is a good opportunity for us to take advantage of selling in bulk."

Farmers classify fish by size and remove dead fish, waste, mud, etc.

In recent days, the atmosphere of labor production has always been urgent and bustling day and night on the riverbanks. Especially, when the tide is low, the whole Cua Sot area resounds with the sound of engines, everyone works hard together and boats loaded with mollusks continuously run back and forth. On the shore, the scene is also very bustling because the processing machines (mud washing, shell sorting, trash removal...) operate at full capacity and hundreds of workers work tirelessly to classify, bag, weigh, and sell to small traders.

The joy of a successful harvest has also spread to buyers and service providers. Mr. Le Minh Truong (trader) said: “I am a person who specializes in buying clams here to bring to the Southern market for consumption. If at the end of last year I only bought 7-8 tons of commercial clams per day, now I buy up to 12-13 tons, the quality of the goods is quite good. The easy-to-sell market and high prices not only bring joy to farmers but traders like us also “benefit” by buying and selling faster, earning better income.”

Traders bring refrigerated trucks to buy right at the dock.

Mai Phu is the commune with the largest clam farming area in the province with 171 hectares of Cua Sot alluvial land, mainly in Mai Lam, Lam Chau and Chau Ha villages. On average, each year this area harvests about 2,000 tons of commercial clams and hundreds of tons of oysters, mussels... for a farming value of over 27 billion VND (clams alone have a value of about 22 billion VND).

Currently, it is estimated that there are still about 600 - 700 tons of commercial clams with the size of 70 - 90 pieces/kg on the tidal flats. This is considered a "golden" opportunity for farmers to increase profits and promote production development.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/thi-truong-khat-vua-ngao-mai-phu-hoi-ha-thu-hoach-post292441.html