Mr. Le Tuan (Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa) shared that the situation of lobster farmers is becoming more difficult than ever. In the past 3 months, the price of lobster has dropped to 1 million VND/kg, cheaper than green lobster (1.6 million VND).
Mr. Tuan’s family is raising 10 cages of spiny lobsters and is facing many challenges. At the beginning of the year, spiny lobsters were purchased by traders at 1.6-2.1 million VND/kg, double the current price.
Not only are the prices cheap, but in reality, traders are now only buying in small quantities to meet domestic demand. "Previously, they bought tons at a time, now they buy a few at a time."
Each kilogram of lobster bought in the bay has decreased from 2.1 million VND to 1 million VND/kg. (Photo: NVCC)
The fact that lobsters are ready to be harvested but cannot be sold makes the cost of raising them too high.
“With a breeding time of about 12-18 months, the cost of breeding stock and food is about 80 million VND for a cage of 10 fish. If breeding is long enough, the selling price must be at least 1.3 million VND/kg to break even. With a selling price of about 1 million VND/kg, it is definitely a loss,” Mr. Tuan calculated.
Currently, every day that the shrimp are not sold, Mr. Tuan's family still loses money on food for them. Along with spending billions of dong to raise shrimp for more than a year, but the shrimp prices are low and he cannot sell them, causing Mr. Tuan to stay up many nights, helpless, only able to watch billions of dong in capital and profit lying idle under the sea.
Mr. Luong, who raises 80 lobster cages in Van Phong Bay, is also facing a similar difficult situation. He shared that the cost of raising each lobster cage since the release of the breed until now is 70 million VND for each cage. The total cost he spent is nearly 5.6 billion VND.
Although the harvest season has been around for about 3 months, the shrimps have not been sold, and every day, he has to spend an additional 15 million VND on shrimp feed. He is even more worried about the complicated storm situation, which could lead to a huge risk for his 80 shrimp cages.
Spiny lobster farmers said that previously, spiny lobsters were mainly exported to China through unofficial channels. But in the past 3 months, China has stopped buying spiny lobsters and only buys green lobsters, causing spiny lobster farmers to be in trouble.
According to Van Ninh Aquatic Products Station, Van Phong Bay has about 35 thousand lobster cages, mainly spiny lobsters.
Three months ago, commercial lobsters were purchased by traders for 1.6-2.1 million VND/kg, depending on the type. However, in recent months, traders have stopped purchasing. Therefore, in the shrimp farming area in Van Phong Bay, there are about 200 tons of lobsters weighing 0.7 kg or more.
Unable to export, lobsters flood online markets at unprecedentedly low prices. (Screenshot)
Nearly a week ago, the National Agency for Quality, Processing and Market Development (NAFIQPM) sent a report to the leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the results of online work with the Animal and Plant Quarantine Supervision Department of the General Administration of Customs of China regarding the export of spiny lobsters.
At the meeting, NAFIQPM raised the issue of the unexplained blockage of lobster exports to China since August 2023, and sent documents to the Department of Animal and Plant Quarantine Supervision requesting information exchange and new policies (if any) from China, but has not received a response.
The representative of the Department of Fisheries also provided information related to lobster farming activities in Vietnam, including farming subjects, farming forms, farming output, origin of breeds... at the request of the specialized agency of the host country.
After receiving information from Vietnam, China will conduct online or direct inspections of breeding facilities and publish on the website of the General Administration of Customs of China a list of export packaging facilities and breeding facilities of Vietnam that are allowed to export to China.
Cong Hieu
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