Consumers in HCM city are buying a lot of seafood when its prices are sharply decreasing up to 30-70% more than before the covid-19 outbreak.
On April 16, there was a placard “rescue seafood” held aloft at G.G seafood store in Bình Chánh district, Hồ Chí Minh city. The store owner said that seafood was being sold at very low price, with some species falling by half such as green lobster (from 1,360,000 to 680,000 dong/kg), geo-duck, (from 500,000 to 250,000 dong/kg), octopus (from 780,000 to 390,000 dong/kg), and red grouper (from 1,160,000 dong to 580,000 dong/kg). The price has plunged to a record low in the past five years.
“There are some types of lobsters sold at low price such as dead lobsters or small sized ones; however, fresh lobsters size 400-500gr/pc brought from Khánh Hòa are very cheap. The cause of such a slump is tourism restriction and restaurant closure, which has resulted in low consumption”, he said.
Seafood sold online is even cheaper when sellers do not have to cover the store leasing fee. Vũ Phương, a trader bringing lobsters from Khánh Hòa to Hồ Chí Minh city, offers prices of lobster size 150-200gr/pc at 390,000 dong/kg, lobster size 400-500gr/pc at 560,000 dong/kg and lobster size 500gr/pc at 600,000 dong/kg.
In his opinion, before the pandemic, the smallest size green lobster (150-200gr/pc) was at 600,000 dong/kg; however it dropped by 25% in April 2020.
VFM
