Vietnam’s top pangasius company, Vinh Hoan, is hoping pangasius export prices will increase from October this year due to supply and demand, the company’s CEO Nguyen Ngo Vi Tam told SeafoodSource during seafood expo Vietfish 2019.
The prices this year were lower than last year, but it is expected that the prices will rise slightly from the end of the third quarter or early October. Normally the supply is abundant in June, July, and August and begins falling in October, Tam said. The demand to serve holidays worldwide by year-end is often high. But she said it is still unknown how the market will react.
“Last year consumers kept buying as prices were on upward trends. But this year they are looking around carefully before making any purchase decision,” said Tam.
Vinh Hoan said in a statement that its export value in July fell 23 percent compared to last year.
According to CEO Tam, because buyers had sharply increased their stockpile last year as prices kept rising, the year-on-year decline this year is understandable.
Currently the export value from the United States accounts for 50 to 55 percent of Vinh Hoan’s total export value, followed by Europe and China with roughly 15 percent each, according to CEO Tam.
The pond prices in An Giang province in the Mekong Delta ranged between VND 20,450 to 21,070 (USD 0.89 to 0.93, EUR 0.79 to 0.82) per kilogram over the week ending 22 August, according to data from the Export and Import Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The prices were down 18.2 to 20.3 percent from last year and 0.3 percent lower than the previous week. And these prices were for the size of between 0.8-1.0 kg per fish.
Photo courtesy of Toan Dao.
