Dong Thap Province is focusing on helping fishery businesses with their exports, as COVID-19 continues to dampen foreign demand and fishery production. — VNA/VNS Photo Chuong Dai

Dong Thap Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is working with the Department of Industry and Trade to help fishery businesses enter countries that have signed free trade agreements with Viet Nam as demand has fallen due to COVID-19.

The province is also examining export activities to propose solutions to ministries and authorities about exporters' problems.

Due to difficulty in selling their harvests, farmers are incurring losses of VND1,000-6,500 (US$0.04 – 0.28) per kilo of fish.

Huynh Tat Dat, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that COVID-19 is affecting shark catfish exports, with the price of raw catfish around VND18,000-18,500 per kilo, which is VND4,500 less than the same period last year.

The price may not improve in the second quarter of the year.

Most processing businesses are using much of their cold storage because raw material sources remain abundant with fewer exports.

Fishling production is also facing difficulties due to slow consumption of commercial shark catfish, which has reduced the price of fishlings. In addition, farmers are not refilling their farms after harvests as much as they usually do.

The price of snake heads has dropped to VND24,000-25,000, which is VND12,000 cheaper year-on-year.

The province has 4,000 hectares of land for fisheries, mainly shark catfish, snakehead and red tilapia. There are 20 fishery processing businesses in Dong Thap, providing jobs for around 21,000 workers. — VNS