High-tech shrimp farming in Ba Ria-Vung Tau is all this big, but the price has dropped dramatically, people are very worried.

The sharp drop in shrimp prices has caused many difficulties for shrimp farmers in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Many households have had to suspend their ponds and businesses have stopped exporting shrimp.

Shrimp prices have dropped 30%

Mr. Le Trong Nghia has 14 shrimp ponds on an area of ​​nearly 5 hectares in Loc An commune (Dat Do district, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province). Once famous as an excellent shrimp farmer (in 2019), this year Mr. Nghia could not survive when shrimp prices have continuously plummeted since the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024 until now.

“Shrimp prices have dropped by more than 50,000-60,000 VND/kg since the beginning of the year. The weather has been harsh, the more I work, the more I lose, so I have stopped farming for more than 4 months. Now it is the rainy season, the main crop, I plan to start farming again but I am still hesitant because the price has not shown any signs of increasing,” said Mr. Nghia.

Quyet Thang Agricultural Cooperative (Ba Ria City) has just harvested and sold about 10 tons of shrimp at the price of 122,000 VND/kg for 35 shrimp/kg, down 30% compared to Tet. Meanwhile, the cost of raising shrimp is 120,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Chuyen, Director of the Cooperative, said that this year's hot weather has caused shrimp to grow slowly and there are many diseases.
The cooperative only dares to raise shrimp at a low density of 200-250 shrimp/m2, so the productivity is only 50% compared to the time when raising shrimp at a high density of 500 shrimp/m2. Meanwhile, input costs such as electricity, water, and disease prevention have increased sharply, causing the price to increase from 100,000 VND/kg to 120,000 VND/kg.

“Shrimp prices are decreasing every day. Yesterday it was 127,000 VND/kg, today it has decreased by another 5,000 VND. With this shrimp price, the cooperative is no longer profitable, if it decreases further, it will lose money,” said Mr. Chuyen.

Shrimp harvesting at Quyet Thang Cooperative (Ba Ria City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province).

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuyet, Director of Cho Ben Cooperative (An Ngai Commune, Long Dien District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province) also said that because the selling price was too low, even though it was harvest time, the cooperative still waited for another 10-15 days in the hope of waiting for shrimp prices to increase.

Not only farmers and cooperatives are affected, seafood exporting enterprises are also facing many difficulties. Mr. Tran Van Dung, General Director of Baseafood Company, said that since 2023, shrimp prices have continuously decreased while shipping rates have increased dramatically by 40-60%.

“The risk is high, Vietnamese shrimp cannot compete with Indonesian and Ecuadorian shrimp due to lower prices, so this year the company has stopped exporting shrimp,” Mr. Dung informed.

According to the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the shrimp farming area nationwide is about 737,000 hectares. Shrimp output harvested as of June 2024 reached 372,000 tons, an increase of 3.8% over the same period in 2023. Of which, the shrimp farming area of ​​Ba Ria-Vung Tau province is 2,895 hectares with an output of about 4,100 tons in the first 6 months of the year.

Vietnam is one of the five largest shrimp producing countries in the world (along with China, India, Ecuador and Indonesia), exporting to 103 markets with a turnover of 1.3 billion USD in the first 5 months of the year.

Many challenges lie ahead

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in 2024, the shrimp industry will continue to face many challenges as the global economy shows no signs of recovery, inflation remains high, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict has not ended. People are tightening their spending, so demand for shrimp in major markets has decreased.

For example, in the US market, in the first 5 months of the year, shrimp exports reached 229 million USD, up 1% over the same period. Of which, exports only increased sharply in January, whereas in February, April and May they decreased sharply. Shrimp exports to South Korea and Japan in the first 5 months of the year also decreased by 9% and 4%.

“In particular, the Chinese market is the main consumer market for our small-scale farmers, but this year, this market has also decreased consumption. After Tet, the output they bought gradually decreased, and by last May, it had decreased even more, so there was a surplus of domestic shrimp and the selling price plummeted,” said Mr. Phan Duc Dat, a shrimp farmer in Loc An commune, Dat Do district.

This year, shrimp market demand has decreased by about 30% since Tet. To boost consumption, Quyet Thang Cooperative has offered products to supermarket chains and large export companies, accepting lower prices of 10-20,000 VND/kg to clear inventory.

The cooperative also changed its shrimp farming strategy, from high density to low density to ensure disease safety and had its own nursery pond to reduce the farming time from 3 months to 2 months/crop. The shorter farming time also helps the cooperative be more proactive in cutting losses when the selling price drops or increasing farming when the selling price is high.

“The number of farming crops per year has also increased from 3 to 5 to compensate for the decrease in shrimp output due to low density farming. With such a change, I expect the market in the last 6 months of the year to be more prosperous, especially in the fourth quarter, when countries increase the amount of shrimp purchased to serve the demand for year-end festivals,” Mr. Chuyen shared.

Source: https://danviet.vn/tom-nuoi-cong-nghe-cao-o-ba-ria-vung-tau-toan-con-to-bu-the-nay-the-ma-gia-giam-the-tham-dan-lo-lam-20240626094530303.htm