VietNamNet Bridge – A bailout package worth 9 trillion dong has been suggested to rescue the ca tra (catfish) industry. However, doubts have been raised that this would not help save the industry, because the bailout package would only benefit enterprises, not farmers.

Money to be spent to save ca tra

Farmers have been on tenterhooks since enterprises refuse to collect fish, even though they signed contracts before, simply because enterprises do not have money to pay to farmers. Meanwhile, farmers still have to spend money every day to feed the fish, and they understand that oversize fish would be unsalable.

According to Nguyen Viet Thang, Chair of the Fisheries Association, the ca tra prices have dropped very rapidly from 22,000 dong per kilo to 18,000 dong per kilo just within two weeks.

“The situation has turned round. Previously, when exporters got big orders, farmers could sell ca tra well. However, the demand of the EU and the US markets has dropped dramatically,” Thang explained.

Enterprises have to lower the sale prices to get money to pay debts, thus leading to the sharp falls of the fish price in the domestic market. At first, the bailout package of 9 trillion dong aimed to help enterprises collect fish to process for sales. However, the money now should be used to collect fish to process for storage, not for sale.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers VASEP has proposed a program on collecting 100,000 tons of fish from farmers for storage. Under the program, enterprises would borrow money at the zero interest rate for four months to collect fish at the prices which must not be lower than the production costs (22,000-24,000 dong per kilo).

VASEP’s secretary general Truong Dinh Hoe emphasized that this proves to be the urgent measure which needs to be taken to revive the ca tra industry.

However, farmers do not think that the measure would help rescue the industry. Le Van Thu, a farmer in Tan Chau district of An Giang province said that farmers cannot set up the ca tra prices and that the prices are set up by enterprises.

“If the government provides loans at the zero percent interest rate, this would only help enterprises make profits, while we have to sell at the production costs, i.e. no profit for us,” he said.

Once farmers cannot make profit with farming, they would give up the job and leave the ponds idle. If so, processing companies would not have fish to process, and the ca tra industry would not be rescued.

Support needs to come immediately

Nguyen Huu Nguyen, Deputy Chair of the An Giang Fisheries Association, has expressed his worry that the support may come too late, if it still takes time to follow necessary administration procedures.

Ca tra in Mekong Delta provinces have become oversize (more than one kilo). If enterprises do not collect fish right now, the fish would become unusable, because import markets only accept small size fish.

“The State needs to give support quickly, or farmers would all die,” he said.

“In the past, the fish weighing 1.2-1.5 kilos were considered oversized, while consumers now favor small fish, therefore, 0.9-1 kilo fish would be listed as oversized already,” he explained. Even if enterprises have money in some days, they would not buy fish anymore, because the oversize fish would not meet the standards for export.

Source: Dan Viet