According to the Aquaculture Department (under Directorate of Fisheries), untill the end of May 2011, in the Delta, there are about 41,826 hectares of dead shrimp with 40,536 hectares of black tiger shrimp and 1,290 hectares of whiteleg shrimp. Soc Trang province has the largest area of dead shrimp (nearly 20,000 hectares). Tra Vinh, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces also have thousands of farming area dead shrimp.
Currently, local farmers are preparing to restock so the demand and the price of shrimp frying rises surprisingly. Some farmers plan to stock whiteleg shrimp instead of black tiger shrimp because time for farming whiteleg shrimp is two month shorter than farming black tiger shrimp. But the supply of seed whiteleg shrimp is also scarce with high price.
In Ca Mau province, the price of raw black tiger shrimp count 20 pieces per kilogram is up to VND260,000 per kilogram and the price of shrimp count 30 pieces per kilogram is at VND185,000 – 190,000 per kilogram, up 23 percent on that of the early 2011, and 38 percent on that of the same period last year. From the beginning of 2011 to now, the price of whiteleg shrimp also keeps on rising. The price of shrimp, count 40 pieces per kilogram, is at VND138,000 per kilogram, up 70 percent over that of the same period last year.
According to Vietnam Customs, during the first four months of 2011, exports reached over 61.3 thousand MT of shrimp in all products and varieties, worth US$573.5 million. In which black tiger shrimp represented 55.8 percent in volume and 63.4 percent in value, whiteleg shrimp represented 28.6 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively. Whiteleg shrimp exports reached high growth with nearly 70 percent, but the black tiger shrimp export growth was approximately 28 percent. The proportion of the whiteleg shrimp in the total export value is rising.
On 26th April, 2011, at the meeting of whiteleg shrimp farming planning held by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Soc Trang province, Directorate of Fisheries (D-FISH) requested MARD to allow to farm the whiteleg shrimp both inside and outside planning areas under intensive farming model, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Vice General Director of D-FISH said.
During the first four months of 2011, shrimp exports were up 20 percent in volume and 34 percent in value on those of the same period last year. However, in the current state of uncertain farming conditions, unstable supply of raw shrimp, the shrimp sector will have to make efforts to achieve the target of over US$2 billion in export value this year.