These days, tuna purchase price at Hon Ro Port, Nha Trang have risen sharply but fishing boats' owners still suffer loss...
These days, tuna purchase price at Hon Ro Port, Nha Trang have risen sharply but fishing boats’ owners still suffer loss.
Tunas are purchasing at VND110,000/kilogram, rising by VND20,000/kilogram over 3 months ago and by twice over the price of VND55,000/kilogram in March, 2013. Accounting for the increase, a fish store owner at Hon Ro Port said, “The current demand is very big while fishing yield is low. This time is the end crop, so the fish price may keep rising.”
Although tuna price has hit the record during the past 2 years, fishermen are suffering loss. Nguyen Tap, owner of KH96481TS, in Nha Trang, said, “4 out of our 6 recent sea voyages went loss because of the low fishing yield.” Kieu Minh Thuan, owner of KH96481TS also shared the same situation, “I have suffered loss in the three sea voyages. The last voyage got the biggest loss, VND75 million. The previous ones lost VND35 – 40 million on average.”
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As normal, after the tenth day of every lunar month, tuna fishing boats of provinces Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, etc. land Hon Ro Port. Like previous times so far this year, tuna yield of most boats in the latest time is not high. Despite the increase in purchase price, 60% of the boats got loss; 20% broke even; and only 20% yielded interest. According to the fishermen, each sea voyage, lasting about 25 days, costs around VND100 – 120 million for fuel, ice and food. With the current tuna price, a boat can break even when yielding 1 tons of tunas. Boats fishing fewer surely suffer loss.
Some main reasons for the poor crop of tunas are the strong Southwest wind on sea, few fish shoals and the end crop. The situation has lasted from 2013 up to now.
According to Head of Hon Ro Port Management Nguyen Trung Hieu, at present, 20 – 30 boats moor at the port each day. Most of them field under 1 ton of fish. The fishing yield at the port so far this year has reached 9,500 tons, including 4,200 tons of tunas.
T.T
