The price of lobster has fallen dramatically in Vietnam as it has become harder for exporters to send the expensive seafood product to China during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lobsters are mainly farmed in some provinces in central Vietnam, such as Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, and Binh Dinh. The product’s most important destination is China, where a large amount are exported each year.
However, the exports of lobster from Vietnam to China have slowed since the outbreak of COVID-19.
SeafoodSource reported in February that difficulties in exporting to China caused the prices to plunge. A certain type of lobster raised in Van Phong Bay in Khanh Hoa fell to about VND 600,000 (USD 25.80, EUR 21.80) per kilogram from around VND 1.5 million (USD 64.60, EUR 54.60) per kilogram previously.
Before the pandemic, lobsters which were not exported were only sold to hotels and restaurants to serve foreign visitors and wealthier consumers. Now, farmers have been forced to lower prices for the domestic market, local newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong reported.
Lobster prices in Nha Trang town in Khanh Hoa were between VND 450,000 and VND 1.1 million (USD 19.40 and USD 47.30, EUR 16.40 and EUR 40.00) as of early September this year, down sharply from between VND 800,000 and VND 1.8 million (USD 34.40 and USD 77.50, EUR 29.00 and EUR 65.50) before the pandemic.
Le Minh Hai, head of the business department at Cam Ranh Town, the key lobster producing area in Khanh Hoa, confirmed exports to China have encountered challenges. He said the reduction in the number of foreign travelers to Khanh Hoa, particularly Chinese tourists, has resulted lower demand.
Royal Seafood, an importer of lobster in Ho Chi Minh City, has slashed imports recently to buy domestic lobster instead, the company’s director Tran Van Truong was quoted as saying.
Truong said his company’s retail price was now at VND 1 million (USD 43.00, EUR 36.40) for a kilogram of domestic lobster, down from between VND 2 million and VND 2.5 million (USD 86.00 and USD 107.60, EUR 73.00 and EUR 91.00) before the pandemic.
But he said the prices would not go down further as farmers were already incurring big losses. Plus, farmers and traders are likely to stockpile the species to wait for demand to recover.
Exports of lobsters to China have been severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak as demand has plunged and China has strengthened inspections for unofficial exports through land-based border lines, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said.
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