Bạc Liêu - Rise in shrimp prices makes farmers greatly delighted

Shrimp farmers in the Mekong Delta are delighted with an abundant crop and rise in shrimp prices after a long time of slump. Prices in the Phước Long town of Phước Long district, Bạc Liêu province have been rising over the last week.

Prices of shrimp from March till late August have always been low and started to bounce back in the last few days. Farmer Trương Công Việt, in Long Hải hamlet of Phước Long town, Phước Long district, Bạc Liêu province harvested around 20kg of 100 count shrimp and sold them at 1.4 million dong every day. “We stocked 96 thousand of post larvae in a 10,000m2 shrimp-rice farm and intended to stock another 30,000 black tiger shrimp following the rise of prices”, said Việt.

Farmer Nguyễn Văn Linh, in Phước Long town said that the third crop has started for half-month and he has just stocked more than 100 thousand of post larvae in a 15,000m2 farm where only 30,000 black tiger shrimps had been stocked in the previous crop and weighed up to size 40 pcs/kg. The 40 count shrimp is sold at 140,000 dong/kg; thus he earns 1.4 million dong after selling around 10kg every day. He intends to stock another 15 thousand black tiger shrimp next month.

Prices of shrimp started to bounce back, farmers continued to rehabilitate their grow-out ponds and expand the farming area. In particular, 30 count black tiger shrimp is sold at 160 thousand dong. Besides, the weather is favorable to shrimp stocking, especially when the Ninh Quới water transport is opened to regulate freshwater and saltwater. The degree of salinity is under 10/%o which is suitable for shrimps to grow up, especially giant freshwater shrimp, according to Hiền.

Nguyễn Trung Hiếu, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Office in Hồng Dân district of Bạc Liêu province said that this year’s crop is more abundant than previous years. This is attributed to the regulation of freshwater and saltwater. The degree of salinity in vicinities of Phước Long district is 20%o while that in the areas in Vĩnh Lộc is below 10%o, which is suitable for shrimp cultivation.

Hồng Dân district has around 25,000 ha of farmed shrimps, with shrimp-rice area accounting for around 23,000ha and shrimp culture zone being 2,500ha. The main crop starts in January and ends in May, the second crop is from June to September, with the main species being giant freshwater shrimp and black tiger shrimp. Tô Quốc Thắng, a trader in Phước Long district said that prices of shrimp started to bounce back with 100 count shrimp being sold at 70,000 dong, 40 count shrimp being at 110,000 dong, 30 count shrimp being at 115,000 dong, and 20 count shrimp being at 140,000 dong, up more than 10,000 dong/kg on average.