A wide variety of seafood products are available for Tet.

(Baonghean.vn) - As Tet approaches, seafood processing villages along the coast of Nghe An province are bustling with buyers and sellers, offering a wide variety of attractive products.

Traditional anchovy fish sauce production villages in Hoang Mai town are bustling before Tet (Lunar New Year) with products bottled and clearly labeled with information such as production facility, address, phone number, type of fish sauce, content, ingredients, production date, and expiration date. The price of fish sauce ranges from 30,000 to 100,000 VND per liter.

Traditional fish sauce is ready to serve the market during the Lunar New Year.

About two months before Tet (Lunar New Year), fish sauce, aged for a full year, is stored in large barrels by traditional craft villages. Every step of the process is carried out strictly according to food safety and hygiene standards. At this time, the facilities package and transport the goods to customers and distribute them throughout the province and other provinces nationwide. Even customers from as far away as Hanoi and Saigon call to place orders.

The Phu Loi fish sauce processing village in Quynh Di ward, Hoang Mai town, supplies the market with over 2 million liters of fish sauce, 830 tons of fermented fish paste, 270 tons of shrimp paste, 650 tons of steamed and dried fish, sea cucumbers, and 7 tons of dried fish annually. Currently, 24 large establishments in the village, such as Cuong Ngan, Cuc Dong, Xuan Tho, Thanh Quyen, Son Ly, Hung Lam, etc., have registered and affixed labels to their products, making Phu Loi fish sauce a brand available throughout the country.

Ms. Thao, the owner of a seafood business in Phuong Can village, introduces customers to the unique product: "caught squid" from fishermen in Hoang Mai.

Along with fish sauce, fermented shrimp paste, and sour shrimp paste, frozen food and dried goods businesses in the area are also busy preparing tens of tons of goods for Tet (Lunar New Year). Famous products in Hoang Mai include: grilled mackerel, sun-dried mackerel, dried squid, sun-dried squid, yellowfin tuna, redfin tuna, peeled shrimp, dried anchovies, dried krill… all of which have very high consumption during Tet, 4 or 5 times higher than on normal days.

Ms. Ho Thi Thao, owner of a seafood business in Phuong Can village, Quynh Phuong ward, said: “Compared to regular prices, seafood products for the Lunar New Year have increased slightly by 10-15%. Currently, the price of grade 1 yellowfin tuna is 150,000 VND/kg, dried shrimp paste is 80,000 VND/kg, anchovies are 300,000 VND/kg, grilled mackerel is 220,000 VND/kg, sun-dried mackerel is 200,000 VND/kg, and squid varies from 400,000 to 1,100,000 VND/kg depending on the type. Large seafood businesses like ours have invested in cold storage facilities with a capacity of tens of tons, so the seafood products are always guaranteed to be fresh and delicious.”

Premium peeled shrimp (grade 1) sells for over 1 million VND/kg.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Linh, a customer in Con Cuong town who was selecting various seafood items, said: “I am a regular customer of processed seafood products from the traditional craft villages of Hoang Mai town, such as fish sauce, shrimp paste, fish, squid… During holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year), many people ask me to buy them for personal use and as gifts for relatives and friends. In general, the products are always fresh and delicious, the packaging is attractive, and there are many varieties, making it convenient for me to choose.”

Many processed seafood products have been carefully packaged.

In recent years, seafood processing activities in Hoang Mai town have developed strongly. Businesses have boldly invested in cold storage systems and machinery to produce high-quality products for the market.

In 2016 alone, the area produced 13,500 tons of various seafood products, including dried seafood, grilled fish, frozen fish, and 5.2 million liters of fish sauce, tens of tons of shrimp paste, and a large quantity of fresh seafood exported to the markets of Laos and China... contributing hundreds of billions of dong to the total production value of the locality, helping to encourage the fishing industry of local fishermen to expand further.

Nguyen Van