Sa Pa salmon price is at a record high

After the Covid-19 epidemic was controlled, the number of visitors to Sa Pa increased dramatically, only during the last holiday of April 30 to May 1, this resort welcomed nearly 100,000 visitors. The number of tourists coming here in the summer is increasing smartly according to the travel and catering services to meet the demand.

One of the specialties of Sapa is salmon. Hardly any visitor can ignore when coming here. Therefore, the consumption of fresh salmon and processed products has increased sharply in recent weeks.

Mr. Le Trung Thuc, owner of Thuc Mai salmon farm in Can Ho Mong village, Ngu Chi Son commune (Sa Pa, Lao Cai) said that in addition to raising salmon and processing it into packaged products for consumers used, the farm also buys more salmon for farmers in the area. However, recently, the price of salmon purchased in ponds has increased to about 370,000 VND/kg, and about 420,000 VND/kg outside the market. However, the quantity purchased is not much because people have no more fish to sell.

"The price of commercial salmon has increased, although it is beneficial for farmers, it is difficult for production because there is no fish to buy, or the price is forced. As for large orders, because of the high price, the goods are sold more slowly than usual. However, partners also accept it because Sa Pa salmon is not like other products, not fixing the price right after signing the contract, but the price depends on the time of harvest, depending on the market," said Mr. Le Trung Thuc.

According to Mr. Thuc, in the same period last year, the price of salmon only fluctuated around 200,000 VND/kg. Because of the low price, people are not interested in raising them, otherwise because they are not sure when tourism will recover. Therefore, when the number of tourists to Sa Pa increases rapidly, people do not have enough fish to sell and the new litter has not yet grown.

The hot increase in the price of salmon helps some households have high income in a short time. Mr. Chao Lao Khe's family, Can Ho A village, Ngu Chi Son commune has sold more than 3 tons of salmon, earning about 1 billion VND. Currently, his family is raising small fish, about 3 months to sell. Mr. Khe expects salmon prices to remain high in the period from now to the end of the year.

Mr. Chao Lao Ta, Can Ho B village, who has experience in salmon farming, said that there is not enough salmon in the village to sell. Tens of tons also have people who put money, even have to compete in price to be able to buy. However, the scarcity of salmon, the people could not expand because there was no room for farming.

According to him, there are households that only have 4-5 ounces of fish left, but they expect the fish to grow up in about 3 months, with a weight of about 1kg each will still sell for about 300,000 VND/kg. Because when Sa Pa salmon reaches a weight of 5 ounces or more, the fish can grow very quickly.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai, Director of Sa Pa Cold Water Fisheries Research Center (Aquaculture Research Institute I, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), and Vice Chairman of Sa Pa Cold Water Fish Association, said that after Controlling the Covid-19 epidemic, the number of visitors to Sa Pa skyrocketed, so the consumption of Sa Pa salmon increased accordingly.

On the other hand, due to the time of Covid-19, farmers reduced the amount of farming, so the output of Sa Pa salmon decreased, leading to a shortage of supply. While the market demand increased, people did not have fish to sell. The supply-demand gap caused the price of Sa Pa salmon to skyrocket.

However, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai also warned that the sudden increase in the price of salmon if people massively raise it, raise it with high density or arbitrarily expand the scale, will lead to exceeding the planning and not properly applying it. There will be disease outbreaks with very unpredictable consequences.

Currently, people are starting to supplement to increase production, so the demand for salmon seeds has also increased dramatically. Although the Center has actively produced seed in the country, but due to the great demand, it still has to import fish eggs from European countries to hatch into fry to serve farmers.