Vietnam should set a single floor price that includes material and processing costs for tra fish for export, said Duong Ngoc Minh, head of the Freshwater Fish Commission of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
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| Tra fish processing at a plant in the Mekong Delta in a file photo. Duong Ngoc Minh, head of the Freshwater Fish Commission of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), has proposed a single floor price for export tra fish. |
VASEP will meet with 20 leading tra fish exporters in the country on December 10 to decide on a floor price for next year.
“We will calculate processing costs, animal feed prices and interest rates to help both enterprises and farmers earn profits,” Minh said at a conference to discuss a draft decree on tra fish production and consumption in HCMC on Thursday.
Minh said it would be impossible to set up a floor price for domestic trading of tra fish as farmers and enterprises both have the right to negotiate. The decree would also stipulate fines against enterprises for violating the floor price regulation.
Vietnamese tra fish is exported to 120 countries worldwide. As current tra fish prices are high at nearly US$3 per kilo in Russia, the U.S. and the EU, local enterprises do not trade at below US$2.8 per kilo.
Some enterprises at the conference suggested the decree should include information on banned chemicals in aquaculture. They said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should help farmers choose a substitute before banning a chemical.
