Searching across Northern Vietnam to gather 5 tons of red carp: Waiting for an opportunity to make a profit of 100 million VND.

For fish traders, the busiest market season is before and after the Lunar New Year, with the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month (the day of the Kitchen God and Stove God) being a time when they make a fortune. On that occasion, most households buy red carp. Some buy a set of 3-5 fish, while others buy tens of kilograms of fish to offer as a farewell ceremony for the Kitchen God and Stove God.

It was past 7 PM, and before she even had time to prepare dinner for her children, Ms. Le Thanh Hai, the owner of a well-known seafood wholesale business on Nguyen Trai Street (Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi), was still busy with her workers checking the oxygen pumps and cleaning the fish tanks to ensure they were spotless.

According to Ms. Hai, throughout the year, the Tet Ong Cong Ong Tao (Kitchen God) festival is the day when the most red carp are sold. On that day, every household buys red carp. Some families buy a set of 3 fish, others a set of 5, and some even buy sets of 7 or 9 fish to offer as sacrifices before releasing them into ponds or lakes.

"Now I just have to wait until the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to go to the pond to catch carp and bring them to Hanoi to sell. As for gathering and ordering the fish, I've already done that a month ago." However, Ms. Hai said that in the last three years, the amount of fish consumed in Hanoi has decreased significantly, and carp has also been experiencing sluggish sales.

However, to meet the market demand for the Tet Ong Cong, Ong Tao (Kitchen God) festival, this year she still ordered 3 tons of fish. Of that, 2 tons were purchased from Cam Khe district (Phu Tho province), and the remaining more than 1 ton was ordered from Hung Yen province, in various sizes, from small ones the size of two fingers to those the size of a whole hand.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhan, a fish wholesaler at Thanh Tri wholesale market (Hoang Mai, Hanoi), also said that to prepare for the Tet Ong Cong Ong Tao market, she has ordered 5 tons of various types of red carp.

Red carp is not as tasty as white carp, so this type of fish is only raised in ponds and lakes to supply the market during the Tet Ong Cong, Ong Tao (Kitchen God) festival. At wholesale markets, the amount of fish consumed at each stall reaches tons. Therefore, if we don't stock up on fish now, we won't have enough supply to sell.

Last year, starting from the 20th day of the 12th lunar month, Mrs. Nhan sold nearly 2 tons of red carp each day. By the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, she had sold all 5 tons of fish.

"This year, I only dared to stockpile 5 tons, not more. Because if I stockpiled too much, I wouldn't be able to process it in time, even though last year, on the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, I sold out of carp quite early," she said.

Ms. Nhan revealed that red carp are only sold in abundance for three days, from the 21st to the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, but retailers can earn between 500,000 and 1,000,000 VND per day in profit during this period. For traders like her, the profit during the Ông Công, Ông Táo (Kitchen God) festival can reach tens of millions to even hundreds of millions of VND. Last year, after selling all the carp she brought in, she pocketed nearly 100 million VND.

According to wholesalers, the supply of red carp in the provinces this year has not fluctuated much, and prices are similar to last year. Therefore, retail prices for carp sold to consumers are expected to range from 25,000 to 50,000 VND per set.

Besides the native red carp, the market also offers koi fish for sale at prices ranging from 200,000 to 800,000 VND per fish, depending on the type. These fish originate from China and are not farmed in Vietnam.

These are high-end fish, so they appeal to a select few, usually only wealthy families buy koi carp for offerings and then release them into the wild. Notably, customers only choose to buy regular koi carp costing a few hundred thousand dong per fish to offer as a farewell gift to the Kitchen God and the Stove God. The koi carp costing tens of millions of dong are bought for ornamental purposes, according to Mr. Phan Van Lam, a fish vendor in Yen Phu.