'Capital' of lobsters in trouble due to unsold goods

Many lobster farmers in Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen are at risk of heavy losses due to changes in import market regulations, products cannot be sold, and prices have dropped by more than half.

After more than 10 years of raising lobsters in Van Phong Bay, Van Ninh District ( Khanh Hoa ), Mr. Phan Xuan Reo, 45 years old, has never seen as many difficulties as he does now. At the beginning of the year, he released 3,000 baby lobsters into 60 cages, at a cost of more than 570 million VND, of which the cost of food for the lobsters has so far been more than 1.5 billion VND. If business goes well, he can earn more than 700 million VND in a farming season.

Along with green lobsters, spiny lobsters are a specialty that is exported a lot. However, in the past three months, the Chinese market has stopped importing this item due to the amendment of the law on wildlife protection, which includes a ban on trading natural spiny lobsters. This has led to the price of Vietnamese lobsters falling by half from 1.8 million VND per kilogram, causing difficulties for farmers.

Mr. Reo at the lobster farm. Photo: Xuan Toan — Mr. Reo at the lobster farm. Photo: *Xuan Toan*

Mr. Reo said that only a few traders come to buy lobsters in small quantities (100-200 kg), so there is a lot of backlog. If the lobsters are left for a long time, their quality will decrease and they will cost more in feed - more than a million VND per lobster per month. Mr. Reo's pond has nearly 3 tons of lobsters, at risk of losing more than a billion VND.

"Luckily, I used my available capital and borrowed a little from relatives to invest in shrimp farming, so there was less pressure. Many people who borrowed from banks are now sitting on hot coals," said Mr. Reo, adding that the price of lobster must be over 1.5 million VND per kg for farmers to make a profit.

Van Phong Bay is one of the largest lobster farming areas in Khanh Hoa province. There are about 35,000 lobster cages, more than half of which are used to raise spiny lobsters. According to many farmers in Van Phong Bay, the price of spiny lobsters is the lowest in 20 years.

Sharing the same situation as Mr. Reo, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa, Van Gia town, Van Ninh district, said that for the past three months, traders have stopped buying lobsters, so Mr. Hoa's family still has about 4 tons of lobsters left.

His family's shrimp have reached a weight of 0.8 kg or more, and each day feeding costs 12-15 million VND. Up to now, the investment cost for each cage of 70 shrimp is about 70 million VND. "If this situation continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on as the cost of raising shrimp keeps increasing. Right now, I can only hope that the authorities will help me find a solution to sell them," said Mr. Hoa.

Traders buy spiny lobsters in Khanh Hoa province. Photo: Bui Toan — Traders buy spiny lobsters in Khanh Hoa province. Photo: *Bui Toan*

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Y, Head of the Economic Department of Van Ninh District (Khanh Hoa), said that from now until the end of the year, the district has about 400 tons of commercial shrimp (0.7-1 kg each) that need to be consumed. This agency recommends that farmers closely monitor market developments and focus on care, maintain appropriate stocking density, and fully register and declare with the management agency.

According to Mr. Ý, in the long term, lobsters and other seafood need to establish a chain from production to safe consumption. This product needs to strengthen the link from production to consumption, issue codes for farming areas, and trace the origin to achieve a safe seafood supply chain in a sustainable direction, increasing value.

In Phu Yen , the province's "lobster capital" in Xuan Dai Bay, Song Cau town, the buying and selling atmosphere is also quite gloomy. According to farmers, every year, the flower lobsters are sold out, but now there are tons left, and the price has dropped sharply. The green lobster is still sold normally.

Mr. Nguyen Tri Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu Yen, said that the province has more than 112,000 lobster cages. In recent years, people have mainly raised green lobsters, while spiny lobsters only account for 10% of the output. It is expected that from now until Tet, the locality will harvest about 600 tons, including 60 tons of spiny lobsters.

Bui Toan

Source link