At present, the price of pangasius in the Mekong region of Vietnam is rising high, reaching 27,000 VND (approximately US$1.2) per kilogram. According to statistics from the Vietnam Pangasius Association, 739 hectares of pangasius fry were stocked in the Mekong Delta. In the first quarter of this year, 672 hectares were harvested and the output reached 210,000 tons.

Since the Vietnamese New Year, the price of pangasius has maintained an upward trend, which lasts for the longest time in many years. The vice chairman of the Vietnam Pangasius Association said that the current price of pangasius is not only very high, but it is also more difficult to predict future price trends, and the factors of instability are increasing.

According to the meat exchange, the current high price of pangasius is largely due to insufficient aquaculture supply. In the past few years, the price of pangasius has been sluggish, and the profits of farms cannot be guaranteed. Many farmers choose to breed other species. Therefore, the current amount of fish fry is low, the output is low, and the supply is insufficient. The production of processing plants is also affected. It can meet the processing needs of 40%-60% of the processing plant.

The high price of pangasius does bring certain benefits to farmers, but relevant departments reminded that the higher the price, the greater the possibility of volatility, and market instability will increase. Therefore, if the price of pangasius keeps running at a high level, it is not conducive to the healthy development of the market.

At the beginning of this year, the Vietnam Fisheries Bureau formulated a preliminary plan for the export of pangasius fish culture, including controlling the aquaculture area to 5,000-5,500 hectares, a production target of 1.15 million tons, and a total export transaction target of 1.7 billion US dollars. In 2016, the total production of pangasius in Vietnam was about 1.18 million tons, and the export transaction value was about 1.6 billion US dollars. It can be seen that the 2017 target set by the Vietnam Fisheries Bureau is relatively conservative, and the main purpose is to stabilize the overall situation of Vietnam's pangasius farming and export.

In addition, the Vietnam Seafood Farmers and Exporters Association, the Vietnam Cleaner Production Center and the World Wide Fund for Nature jointly launched the "Building a Sustainable Supply Chain of Pangasius in Vietnam" (SUPA) project, which aims to provide a healthy breeding and processing of pangasius in the Mekong Delta. Series support, improve the supply chain, in order to enhance the competitiveness of the Vietnamese pangasius industry on a global scale, and provide safer, high-quality pangasius products for the international market. The project has assisted 50 companies and 120 farms in sustainable production and processing, and trained more than 3,000 workers.

According to statistics, the project has effectively helped processing plants improve their production efficiency. More than 70 factories have improved their resource utilization rate and started clean production. Electricity consumption has been reduced by about 18%-20%, and water consumption has also been reduced by 26%-30%. . In addition, the project helped 54 pangasius processing plants successfully reduce production energy consumption, valued at 2-5 billion VND (approximately US$87,800-219,300), and carbon dioxide emissions have also been reduced by 21,000 tons.

The meat information platform believes that this will help the global market to change the perception of pangasius, especially in the European market, where the acceptance of pangasius may be higher. This measure not only protects the environment, but also brings more opportunities for processing plants, and has a certain effect on promoting market stability.