The price of Vietnamese pangasius raw materials has risen sharply, and the supply of fish fry has entered a stage of shortage

In the first week of 2025, Vietnam witnessed a significant surge in the prices of large and medium-sized pangasius fish, with 1.2kg+ fish reaching VND 32,440 ($1.28)/kg, the highest since 2022. The price increase is attributed to a decline in supply, which makes up only 5% of the total supply and is primarily sold to China. Additionally, the rearing of pangasius has been affected by cold weather, further reducing the supply. Moreover, the price of fry has also seen a sharp rise, reaching 46,300/kg at the beginning of 2025, due to stable demand and limited supply, alongside high mortality rates and reduced quality of fry due to weather conditions.

Especially in the last week of 2024, the increase was very significant, and it entered a new high cycle in the first week of 2025. In addition, the larger the size, the more obvious the increase. In the first week of 2025, 1.2kg+ rose to VND 32,440 ($1.28)/kg, close to the high in 2022. Large-sized fish are usually sold to the Chinese market, and smaller-sized raw materials are made into fish fillets and exported to Europe and the United States. 1.0-1.2kg and 800g-1.0kg also reached a high of VND 31,250/kg, basically the same as the highest level in 2022. The main reason for the price increase is the decline in supply. As of the end of December 2024, 800g-1.0kg accounted for 37% of the total supply, and sizes above 1.2kg accounted for only about 5%. In addition, the cold weather in December caused the growth rate of pangasius to slow down, and the supply of various sizes decreased, with large sizes decreasing more. At the same time, the price of fry has also risen sharply. The ...