Shrimp prices are activated in season

In Soc Trang and some white-leg shrimp-growing areas in neighboring provinces, raw white shrimp suddenly caused prices to rise slightly and goods to be gobbled up. In the two weeks following the Lunar New Year, shrimp buying and selling brokers returned to the fish processing factory to report that the price of large Vannamei shrimp had risen significantly.

Last week, the price of 40-90 shrimp/kg increased by 2,000-19,000 VND/kg, the price of size 20/kg shrimp was higher by 46,000 VND/kg, the price of 50-80 shrimp/kg was lower by 4,000 -9,000 VND /kg.kg. The remaining shrimp sizes have not changed significantly compared to the same period in 2022.

Some shrimp traders and traders operate domestic markets and believe that post-Tet white shrimp price is difficult to increase due to the start of the breeding season. In addition, since shrimp are new to the harvest, the harvest is small, and the shrimp processing factories in particular reduce the collection of raw materials when the export market signals a slowdown.

But no, the reality is different. Small Vannamei shrimp 100 heads/kg, traders collect 100,000 VND/kg, higher than the same period 5,000-10,000 VND/kg, shrimp size 50 shrimp/kg over 130,000 VND/kg, about 10,000 higher than the same period in the same period last year VND/kg.

Traders who sold fresh shrimp to the northern provinces said it lasted until the days after Tet due to the recent cold weather in the northern and central provinces. At that time there was no shrimp harvest in this area.

The demand for fresh shrimp in the domestic market remains high. The oxygen shrimp size of 20 shrimp/kg is sold for up to 400,000 VND/kg, while frozen shrimp of this size costs 350,000 VND/kg. And the shrimp bought by oxygen shrimp (through a separate freezing factory) for wintering of good quality, such as fresh shrimp transported by air, also attracted a lot of goods.

According to the director of a shrimp processing and export company in Soc Trang earlier this year, in the situation with few export contracts but not no orders, some factories still have had to keep up with the procurement of raw materials, maintain production and keep workers. At the same time, the company promotes the search for new partners and orders. In this regard, if raw shrimp keep a good price, it will have a positive impact on shrimp farmers in the first production season of the year.

Shrimp are slow to come into season

According to small shrimp farmers on the east coast from Soc Trang to Bac Lieu, the shrimp harvest was slow in the first month of this year due to low salinity. Shrimp farmers in Soc Trang are still hesitant because of the weather, which makes appear a few unusual rains, persistent cold air effects, fear of disease situations. Therefore, most households with shrimp farming are concerned about renovating and cleaning ponds. Wait for good weather and water conditions to enter harvest.

Ms. Quach Thi Thanh Binh, Director of Fisheries Subdivision of Soc Trang Province, said: From January 2023, the provincial shrimp farming area started the stocking season again. Currently, salinity has just started to increase, with more than 700 hectares in stocking season, more than 36% over the same period. Shrimp develop normally and stably, no damage has occurred.

The shrimp farming season in the Mekong Delta coastal provinces is from January to June, in which high-tech shrimp farms have conditions to pursue the second harvest, which may last until the end of September, however, in January 2023, the monitoring results of some shrimp farming areas have the lowest salinity of about 2 ‰.

Breeders of brackish white shrimp said that, based on experience, salinity should be 5-7‰ when breeding in inland earthen ponds, while breeding Vannamei in industrial planar ponds must be above 10‰. Black tiger shrimp breeding has a higher salinity of 15-25 ‰. In addition, the temperature difference between day and night is quite high and shrimp stocking is a high risk.

Soc Trang Fisheries Ministry said it will continue to conduct environmental monitoring, update weather information and warn shrimp farmers in the province of diseases. Over the years, Soc Trang Province has maintained a stable brackish water shrimp farming area of ​​over 53,000 hectares, of which about 4,000 shrimp are concentrated in high-tech farms, accounting for about 9% of the area.

In 2022, the Mekong Delta has an area for brackish shrimp farming of 516,000 hectares, equivalent to the area of ​​2021. Black tiger shrimp breeding area is 436,000 hectares and white shrimp is 80,000 hectares. The shrimp production for the whole year is 670,000 tons, of which 201,000 tons are black tiger shrimp and 469,000 tons are white shrimp.