Prices for pangasius have risen “a lot” in Vietnam in 2018, according to Johan Brouwer, chief operations officer at Seafood Connection BV, a Dutch-based subsidiary of the seafood trading giant Maruha Nichiro Corp in Japan.
Seafood Connections offers sourcing services to third parties through its offices in Vietnam, where it also sources for its own sales. Brouwer attributed the higher prices for pangasius to rising demand from China.
Pangasius has fast become a favorite in China’s burgeoning convenience food sector. Seeking to capitalize on its increasing popularity, in 2017, 10 Vietnam seafood firms agreed to work with the Vietnamese government’s trade promotion and commerce bureaus to import pangasius and shrimp directly into Chongqing, which is China’s largest urban area.
As a result of China’s hunger for pangasius and its own imposition of anti-dumping duties, U.S. consumers may have to get used to paying more for pangasius. Higher prices may be impacting U.S. imports of frozen catfish, which fell by 26 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018.
But a lift in prices is positive is good for farmers and for the rural economy in Vietnam, Brouwer said. Brouwer added that it’s neither environmentally wise nor technically easy to push Vietnam to increase supply quickly. On the technical side, ramping up production would require high volumes of fingerlings, which are in limited supply in Vietnam.
Instead, Brouwer encourages pangasius buyers to get used to the new normal of higher prices.
“If everyone accepts that pangasius is no longer a very cheap fish, then everyone benefits,” Brouwer said.
