Nghe An's 'one-sun' seafood is expensive and popular during Tet

Nearly a month ago, nearly 100 households in the two communes of Dien Ngoc and Dien Bich (Dien Chau) were bustling with shrimp processing season. Each household had to hire 10-15 workers per day. Photo: Viet Hung

To serve customers' demand for specialties during Tet, nearly a month ago, many households in Dien Chau district began bustling with the shrimp processing season.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Truc, in Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau) said that her family focused on purchasing sea shrimp from nearshore fishing boats with about 7 tons. To process the shrimp, the family hired 10 workers to work all day. About 3 tons of packaged dried shrimp will be exported to provinces and cities to serve customer needs during this Tet holiday.

Dien Chau shrimp products are produced using traditional methods so they have a unique flavor.

Dien Chau shrimp products are popular with consumers. Photo: Viet Hung

Dien Chau district has more than 100 households processing shrimp, concentrated in Dien Ngoc and Dien Bich communes. With over 1,500 boats, the annual seafood catch of the district reaches 44,000 tons, of which shrimp is 1,500 tons. To increase the value, after being caught, the sea shrimp is purchased by households and processed into shrimp with an annual output of 30 tons, generating over 230 billion VND in revenue. This profession creates jobs for 300 workers with an income of 100 million VND/person/year.

During the Lunar New Year, Dien Chau shrimp are sold in many places and are popular with customers. Currently, shrimp are sold at prices ranging from 500,000 - 800,000 VND/kg.

Quynh Luu people dry squid in the sun. Photo: Viet Hung

In Quynh Luu district and Hoang Mai town, villagers here are also actively processing many types of seafood, of which squid, mackerel, hairtail, and chicken thigh fish are famous for being processed into "one-sun" products.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tung in Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu) said: On normal days, "one-sun" squid is processed about 1 - 2 quintals/day, however, around the beginning of the 12th lunar month, about 4 - 5 quintals are processed every day. When the squid has been dried in the sun for 1 day, it will be packaged and put in the freezer.

According to experience, “one-sun” squid must be chosen as large, thick-bodied, caught by fishermen at sea. The squid is cleaned, split open and then dried in the sun. If the sun is strong, it can be dried for 1 day, then collected, packaged and stored in the freezer. During Tet, “one-sun” squid is bought and used a lot by customers and is currently priced at more than 500,000 VND/kg.

One-sun-dried squid products are processed by Quynh Luu farmers to supply the Tet market. Photo: Viet Hung

Quynh Luu is a district with a total of nearly 1,200 large boats and ships, with an output of more than 4,000 tons of squid, of which more than 1,000 tons are selected to be processed into dried squid, bringing high value.

In addition to "one-sun" squid, many valuable seafood such as frozen peeled mantis shrimp, chicken thigh fish, mackerel, squid, shrimp, fish fillets... are also elaborately processed by people.

In the localities of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau and Hoang Mai town, during the Lunar New Year, hundreds of tons of seafood were processed and exported to domestic and foreign markets. Due to the high demand compared to normal days, most prices of goods increased by 10 - 15%. Particularly for dried squid, the increase was stronger, currently priced from 700,000 VND to 1.5 million VND/kg.