Seafood prices are forced down, fishermen suffer losses

Private traders squeeze prices

When there are many boats returning, traders will reduce seafood purchase prices. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Fisherman Dinh Trong Chuong in Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) said that when the ship was near the port, there was alreadytraderwaiting for purchase and they set their own prices, sometimes the prices decrease but the fishermen have to accept it. Seafood traders are mainly the ones who supply input to the cold storages in the district, they give many reasons to lower the prices.

“The high price of oil, on the contrary, the price of seafood at the fishing port has even decreased, which is the reason why fishermen suffer losses after each trip. Should we have large enterprises come in to buy to keep prices stable?” - fisherman Dinh Trong Chuong wondered.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Dong - ManagerLach Quen fishing portsaid: Normally, every month, ships return to port twice, in the middle and at the end of the month. The ships that arrive first can sell at a good price, but when ships return en masse, traders lower the price. In the first few months of this year, the price of hairtail fish has even dropped by more than half, previously it was priced from 80,000 - 120,000 VND/kg, but now it is only 30,000 - 40,000 VND/kg. Because the price of seafood has not increased, while the price of oil has skyrocketed, most ships have suffered losses after each voyage, and the number of ships staying on shore is increasing.

Hairtail fish prices have dropped the most in the past 6 months. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Meanwhile, according to the "argument" of buyers, the reason for the drop in seafood prices is because the Chinese market is frozen due to the "Zero Covid" policy.

Mr. Le Xuan Tu - manager and operator of a frozen warehouse in Hamlet 6, Quynh Nghia Commune (Quynh Luu) said that the reason why the price of seafood purchased from fishermen has not increased is because the export market to China has not been opened yet, most of the frozen seafood now has to be transported to Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces for consumption. Meanwhile, high oil prices have caused transportation costs to increase dramatically, so the frozen facilities are forced to reduce input prices.

"In spite ofseafood productionIn the first 6 months of the year, there were not many, sometimes there were even not enough inputs, but we could not increase the purchase price for the people, because we had to bear all the transportation costs," said Mr. Tu.

While fuel prices have doubled, the decrease in seafood prices is the main reason why fishermen are losing money. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The survey showed that the situation of traders forcing down seafood prices occurred at all fishing ports in Quynh Luu district and Hoang Mai town, which are localities with the largest number of fishing vessels and the highest seafood catch in the province. Fishermen said that they were completely helpless, because 100% of seafood after being caught depends on traders.

Need large enterprises to purchase

Nghe An currently has 3,422 fishing vessels operating at sea (1,170 of which have a maximum length of 15m or more), of which 1,621 are gillnet vessels, 589 are grab net vessels, 704 are purse seine and trawl vessels, and 348 are other vessels, with 17,014 workers directly on board. The annual seafood catch is over 170,000 tons.

Ships and boats going out to sea, in addition to creating jobs for tens of thousands of coastal workers, contributing to socio-economic development, also have the task of protecting the sea and islands of the Fatherland. Therefore, our Party and State always encourage fishermen to stay at sea. However, in the context of the sudden increase in fuel prices, it has directly affected the income of fishermen.

The report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also confirmed that the price of gasoline and oil has continuously increased, increasing by over 70%, the price of materials and equipment for seafood exploitation has also increased (ice, food, fishing gear, labor), but the price of seafood in the first months of 2022 has not increased, causing difficulties for fishing activities, many fishing boats are stuck on shore.

The high price of oil has also caused other raw materials for seafood to increase. Photo: Xuan Hoang

For example, the purse seine fishing profession in the open sea, mainly concentrated in Quynh Luu district and a few in Hoang Mai town, from 2020 onwards, the average cost of each sea trip was 120-140 million VND, the income of each worker was 6-7 million VND/person/month. However, from the beginning of 2021 until now, due topetrol pricecontinuously increasing, causing the cost of each trip to increase from 40-60 million VND, greatly affecting the profits of the people, most fishing boats rarely go fishing; currently 10-20% of fishing boats are profitable but the income of workers has decreased to 4-5 million VND/person/month; 40-50% of fishing boats are losing money and are stuck on the shore.

At the meeting of the Provincial People's Committee at the end of June to discuss solutions to overcome difficulties for fishermen, representatives of the authorities of some communes: Quynh Lap (Hoang Mai town), Tien Thuy, Quynh Nghia, Quynh Long... (Quynh Luu) said that the situation of traders forcing down prices to buy seafood has been happening for a long time. To stabilize the output of seafood after catching, along with investing in upgrading fishing ports as it is now, the province needs to attract large enterprises to participate in processing and purchasing seafood for fishermen in a stable manner.

Mr. Tran Xuan Hoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that, up to now, most of the seafood output after catching has been purchased by traders to provide input for small-scale freezing facilities in the province. In the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to call onbusiness, investors build and form a supply chain for exploitation, logistics services, aquaculture, preservation, processing and consumption of aquatic products to increase product value and stabilize prices...