VietNamNet Bridge – A flicker of hope has appeared among Vietnamese fishermen after Binh Dinh province’s fishermen sold tuna to Japan at a price five times higher than the domestic price.

Japan has promised to buy ocean tuna from Vietnam if the products can satisfy Japanese standards.

Nine out of the 54 tuna exports caught by five fishing boats in Binh Dinh province with Japanese equipment and technology met the requirements to process sashimi, a well-known Japanese dish.

Nine tuna fish were auctioned at a large market in Osaka in Japan and sold at 2,100 JPY per kilo, or VND440,000. A 50 kilo tuna was priced at over VND22 million.  

Japanese experts confirmed that the tuna quality was nearly the same with products available in the Japanese market.

The remaining tuna were sold at VND150,000-300,000 per kilo.

Vietnamese fishermen have been told that they need to be able to export higher quality products for better prices.

Japan, a large market which consumes 600,000 tons of tuna every year, is willing to import tuna from Vietnam if the products can satisfy Japanese standards. Fifty percent of the tuna in Japan is imported from Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The Japanese side not only promises to buy tuna from Vietnamese fishermen, but also helps them build up brands and process products for exports to European and US markets.

However, it is always very difficult to export products to the demanding Japanese market.

La Tinh, the owner of four out of five fishing boats in the open sea, catch tuna under a pilot program. Only the fishing boat of Nguyen Que did not take a loss, while the other four boats, belonging to Tinh, incurred a loss of VND500 million.

Tinh said in general, a trip to the open sea lasts 20 days, but in order to catch fish meeting Japanese standards, fishermen need to return ashore after 10 days.

A 10-day trip would cost VND70-80 million. If the tuna cannot satisfy the requirements and the output is low, fishermen will incur losses.

He said that a 20-day fishing trip would cost VND140 million, but he can catch 1.5-4 tons of fish and make a profit of millions of dong if the fish is sold for VND100,000 per kilo.

However, while fishermen feel discouraged about the new way of fishing and the potential of the Japanese market, Binh Dinh authorities still plan to fulfill their dream of exporting tuna to Japan.

Dat Viet