Surprisingly, imported Alaska lobsters to Vietnam are cheaper than freshwater shrimps.
According to customs data, Alaska lobster imported to Vietnam is super cheap, 1kg of imported Alaska lobster costs only about 170,000 VND, cheaper than freshwater shrimp in the market.
A few years ago, Alaska lobsters became a popular item in Hanoi. Not only because they were labeled as “foreign goods”, but these lobsters also weighed quite a lot, averaging 1-3 kg/lobster, some weighing up to 5 kg, and the record for a lobster weighing up to 7 kg. In particular, the lobsters had a pair of giant claws that delighted many people.
Alaska lobsters are flooding the market
However, this type of lobster at that time often appeared in luxury restaurants or 5-star hotels. They were ranked among the most expensive dishes. Some imported seafood stores also sold them, but the goods were quite rare and customers often had to order in advance at a price of about 1.3-1.5 million VND/kg.
However, the information revealed by the Customs agency will surprise many people because Alaska lobster imported to Vietnam is super cheap.
The General Department of Customs said that the actual statistics were taken in detail according to the imported goods name "Alaska shrimp" with HS code 030611 and HS code 030617. However, businesses can declare many different goods names such as rock lobster, flower lobster, Homarus lobster,...
This type of shrimp currently costs from 0.5-1 million VND/kg.
Accordingly, preliminary statistics for the first 6 months of 2019 show that approximately 3,785 kg of shrimp were imported under the name “Alaska lobster”, with an estimated value of 27,526 USD. This quantity of shrimp originated from Japan and Indonesia.
Thus, on average, each 1kg of Alaska lobster imported to Vietnam costs only about 170,000 VND. At this price, Alaska lobster is cheaper than green-legged shrimp or shrimp... sold in the market.
Currently on the market, some stores sell the cheapest fresh Vietnamese farmed lobsters for up to 700,000 VND/kg, baby lobsters for 1.1 million VND/kg, bamboo lobsters for 1.2 million VND/kg and the most expensive is live flower lobsters for 2.3 million VND/kg (about 2.5 times more expensive than live Alaska lobsters weighing 1-4 kg/each).
