The market of green lobsters is stable while spiny lobsters are difficult to be sold in Khánh Hòa. The situation highlights a need for the connection between production and consumption to stabilize the market.
Over the past month, lobsters from Van Phong Bay have reached the harvest size, but there are no buyers. Nguyễn Hữu Nguyên, a lobster farmer in Vạn Giã town (of Vạn Ninh district), shared, “My family has about 3.5 tons of spiny lobsters weighing 0.8 – 1 kg each, but we haven’t been able to sell them but continue to keep them much longer than normal. And as such, the daily cost is added up to VND 20 million on feed.”
Van Ninh has around 35,000 lobster farming cages, with more than 50% dedicated to spiny lobsters. The initial investment is substantial because it takes 10 – 12 months for green lobsters to reach the size of three count lobsters, while spiny lobsters must be raised for about 18 – 20 months to reach the size of about 0.8 – 1 kg each. About a month ago, the price of spiny lobsters ranged between 1.6 – 1.7 million VND/kg, and farmers were still making profits. Currently, they are sold around 1.3 – 1.4 million VND/kg, but consumption is very slow.
On the other hand, green lobster consumption remains relatively favorable, with prices being stable at around 1 – 1.1 million VND/kg in Van Ninh district and Cam Ranh city. Farmer Nguyễn Văn Hậu from Cam Bình commune in Cam Ranh city said: “My family recently harvested 12 cages of green lobsters with an output of about 1 ton, and prices staying at over 1 million VND/kg. I earned a profit of 500 million dong after costs. Cam Binh commune has about 20,000 green lobster cages. People continue to sell lobsters regularly, with some months reaching over 100 tons and others with several tens of tons.”
According to some traders, spiny lobsters are mainly purchased for exports to the Chinese market. This market has been constantly fluctuating, and for the past month, various types of lobsters, especially spiny lobsters, have not been exported, leading to a backlog. Smaller green lobsters with lower prices have been consumed favorably, thus, been purchased by traders at stable prices.
Currently, lobsters are mainly exported to China through border gates. According to Võ Khắc Én, Deputy Head of the Sub-department of Fisheries, to stabilize the market, lobsters should be exported to China upon official quotas. Thus, a supply chain must be established together with traceability.
VFM
