Many European and US importers looking to buy Vietnamese tra fish products at the Food and Hotel Exhibition in HCM City last month were unhappy because local exporters could not meet their increasing demand.

Nguyen Van Ky, general director of Agrifish An Giang, says he had to refuse an order for 20 containers of tra products per month by an American buyer for fear of insufficient supply.

According to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta has over 120 tra processing plants that require some 5,000 tonnes of fish per day in the fourth quarter.

However, deputy chairman of the association Duong Ngoc Minh says supply would be less than 4,000 tonnes.

The shortage forced tra prices up to VND26,500 per kilogramme by September 30, a VND1,000 rise in two weeks.

Luu Bach Thao, director of the Viet An Seafood Processing JSC, blames processors without their own tra farms and traders for forcing prices up.

But even companies with such farms face shortages.

VASEP deputy chairman Minh, who is also general director of the Hung Vuong Seafood JSC, says his company is unable to get the 12,000 tonnes it needs in the next three months to meet its annual production targets.

"As a result, we have to reduce our tra exports from 400 containers to 350 a month."

Insufficient supply of fries and fingerlings for breeding is to blame for the shortages, he explains.

This is due to the sell-off of fish breeding farms last year when their owners suffered huge losses due to the depressed markets, he further explains.

The cost of tra fries rose from VND29,000 per kilogramme in early September to VND36,000 by September 30.

VASEP says while the global economic crisis will have little impact on the industry, the insufficient supply of fish will hit exports in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first half of next year.

In addition to traditional markets such as the EU and the US, Vietnamese exporters have expanded their tra market to South America, the association says.

Higher airfares

Tour operators fear that higher airfares will make their domestic (inbound) tours unattractive.

The fare ceiling on the Ha Noi-HCM City route rose to VND5 million (US$239) after a 22.7 per cent hike last May, and is expected to go up to VND8 million ($385) if approved by the Ministry of Transport.

Airfares make up 60 per cent of tour costs.

Pham Duc Hoa, deputy chief of Saigontourist's Inbound Tour Division, says higher fares will soon force up the prices of tours from HCM City to the northern and central regions, making travellers prefer destinations that are not far from the city and can be reached by bus.

Tour operators earn little profit from these short-distance tours.

Nguyen Van Tran, general director of the HCM City-based travel agency APEX, which specialises in organising inbound tours for international guests, says since tours by foreign guests were booked several months ago, the fare hike will cause difficulties since the rates have been agreed.

Besides airfares, other inbound tourism-related services have also become more expensive.

Tour operators specialising in domestic tours will have a tough time during Tet (the Lunar New Year) when people have longer holidays. Over the past few years, they have suffered because tours of neighbouring countries have become much cheaper.

A tour operator from HCM City, who wishes to remain unnamed, says a fresh airfare hike will make domestic tours twice as expensive as similar tours of Thailand.

"The difference [between prices of inbound and outbound tours] cannot be accepted by even the patriotic Vietnamese."

On Thursday, a senior official from the Ministry the Finance said he could not make any comment on the possible airfare hike because he had not received any proposal for it yet.

But any plan for a hike must be carefully considered since the consumer price index was high at the moment, he added.

VNS