AFRAID OF FARM BILL, AMERICAN IMPORTERS STRONGLY PUSH FOR IMPORTING VIETNAMESE PANGASIUS
23/03/2017

Importers are concerned that by September 2017, the US Department of Agriculture will apply Farm Bill to Vietnamese pangasius, therefore, they have to increase the purchasing volume in advance.
The exportation of catfish in three days of the Seafood Expo North America (Seafood Expo North America) has been quite positive.
At the trade fair, demand for imported pangasius in the US, South American and Chinese markets increased as fish exports from Vietnam to these markets dropped sharply in the first few months of the year. In the past two months, Vietnamese enterprises have signed a contract selling a large quantity into these markets, however, due to the shortage, they are unable to deliver goods. As the result, the importers have to find other enterprises capable of supplying to sign contracts with higher prices.
In the US market, unexpectedly, importers are concerned that by September 2017, the US Department of Agriculture will apply the Farm Bill to Vietnamese pangasius. Therefore, they have to increase the purchase volume in advance, this situation pushed the transaction price in the days of the fair increased by 10% compared with February. However, due to lack of available goods, many enterprises are reluctantly signing the contract, only accept the price for maximum two months rather than long-term.
Not only the US and South American markets, the Chinese market is also in great demand for pangasius imports, especially butterflied pangasius. Surprisingly, the price of butterflied pangasius in the Chinese market has surpassed the US market by at least 10%. China’s demand for butterflied fish imports at this time will make it difficult to export fish fillets to the United States and other markets due to lack of material.
Thus, because the fish production is about 30% as compared to the same period, the price of fish may continue to increase in the coming time. At present, according to the preliminary statistics, the pangasius processing plants only produce average about 1,600 tons per day, compared to the previous 4,500 tons. This situation has forced many factories to rest several days a week while reducing capacity from now until 2017.
Meanwhile, unfavorable weather and early seasonal rains led to up to 80% fingerlings being lost. Á the result, fingerling stocking will be delayed for 2 more months than previously expected, which is in June and July than expected. The price of fingerlings has increased 2.5 times over the same period. It is forecasted that from April to December 2017 will be the most serious shortage period, meeting only 40% of export demand and fish prices forecasted in 4 months will be 27,000 VND / kg or more.