Vietnam’s pangasius exports are expected to drop more than 40 percent in 2011, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
VASEP Deputy Chairman Nguyen Huu Dzung reported at an aquaculture conference in Can Tho, Vietnam, recently that the country’s pangasius exports are forecasted to total between 360,000 metric tons and 380,000 metric tons valued at about USD 1 billion this year. That would be down from 645,000 metric tons last year.
Raw fish will be “very scarce” from now through the end of September, and Vietnam’s pangasius production is expected to reach only 1 million metric tons in 2011.
As a result, demand is expected to outstrip supply this year. But conference delegates urged farmers and processors to focus more on increasing the price than increasing the quantity, which would benefit the pangasius industry as a whole.
