Ornamental fish make profit splash

Photo: danviet.vn

The exportation of ornamental fish from Ho Chi Minh City and several Mekong Delta provinces have brought high profits for breeders this year, mostly due to an increase in the number of promotions.

In the first nine months of the year, Ho Chi Minh City exported 7 million ornamental fish, an increase of 3.5 percent year-on-year, according to the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Tong Huu Chau, owner of the Chau Tong Ornamental Fish Enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City's District 12, said that exporters had been successfully promoting their products over the year.

Many new partners from the United States, Australia and Canada have placed orders this year, he said, adding that prices were not too high but competitive.

Ho Nhuan Dang Son, general secretary of the Long An Province's Ornamental Creatures Association, said that export orders had been rising since the beginning of the year.

Son said he earned a profit last year of nearly 500 million VND (23,800 USD) from raising 100 tanks of discus fish and 2ha of other ornamental fish.

The EU accounts for 73 per cent of Vietnam's ornamental fish exports and Asia and the United States, the remaining, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Fisheries Quality Assurance and Aquatic Resources Protection Sub-Department.

Enterprises said, however, that Vietnamese ornamental fish exports still faced several technical barriers from import countries.

Chau said that four carp exporters in Ho Chi Minh City have encountered such problems.

The city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with the Agriculture and Forestry University, has carried out a project to implement good manufacturing practices to produce ornamental fish between 2011 and October of this year.

This practice will be applied on a pilot basis at several farms next month, said the association.

Last year, the city exported 400 billion VND (19 million USD) of ornamental fish, double the figure in 2008, said the department.

The city now raises more than 63 million ornamental fish, up 14.5 percent against the same period last year, it said.