High dried fish inventories trigger concern in Quang Tri
High dried fish inventories trigger concern in Quang Tri
Fishermen and residents involved in drying fish and traders in Quang Tri Province have been beset with worry over the rising inventory of dried fish in warehouses.
Thousands of tons of dried fish are stuck at many cold storage warehouses in Gio Viet Commune and Cua Viet Town in Gio Linh District, the largest dried fish suppliers in the province.
Local residents sell only a small amount of dried fish at wet markets, whereas they mainly export these goods to China, Tran Thanh Hai, vice chairman of Gio Viet Commune, remarked, adding that this heavy reliance on the Chinese market poses risks.
The shipments of dried fish are mainly arranged through informal channels, he stated.
Among the 600 tons of dried anchovies stocked in Gio Viet Commune, up to 500 tons are stored in cold storage warehouses, whereas the other 100 tons have been transported to the border with China, Hai said. However, their Chinese partners refuse to import the goods or return them.
This refusal to buy the goods was attributed to China’s tightened import policy, requiring imports to be transported through formal channels, labeled and have traceable origins.
Cuu Viet Town faces the same fate, as some 400 tons of anchovies are stuck at cold storage warehouses, according to the town’s authority.
The inventory of thousands of tons of dried fish has created a hardship for many dealers in the central province of Quang Tri, noted Hoang Ming Thao, owner of a fish-drying facility in Gio Viet Commune.
In the past, his facility could turn out VND300-400 million worth of dried fish, but production has come to a halt over the past three months, Thao reported, adding that the facility is not buying anymore fish, despite the easy availability, due to its rising inventory and the low selling price.
Apart from this, many owners of cold storage warehouses and local traders have raised concerns over the high inventory of dried fish. Many traders are storing hundreds of tons of dried fish at warehouses with no idea of when they would be able to sell them.
Nguyen Khoi, a trader who owns four cold storage warehouses that are filled with dried fish, has to pay an electricity bill of up to VND35-40 million each month, though he has failed to sell his dried fish.
Gio Viet Vice Chairman Hai acknowledged that over the long term, it is necessary to seek more dried fish consumption markets, enhance the quality of dried fish and build trademarks for the product to maintain the occupation and stabilize farmers’ and traders’ incomes.
