“No cheap lobsters here.” “Anyone selling young lobsters for a hundred or so, bring them here, and I’ll buy them all.” “You can buy as many as you want, but there’s no distressed lobster sale here.”
These are the responses from several seafood vendors on Truong Chinh Street, at the seafood market adjacent to Pham Van Hai Market (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City).
“The ‘rescue’ lobsters online are export-quality stock that couldn’t be sold, so they’re being dumped. But export-grade spiny lobsters cost one and a half times more than regular green lobsters,” said Mrs. Binh, owner of a large seafood wholesaler on Pham Van Hai Street.
The Truth Behind Lobster ‘Rescue’ Campaigns
At a neighboring seafood stall, a vendor quoted 1 million VND per kilogram for two lobsters and explained: “Online reports of lobsters selling for 120,000 – 150,000 VND per kilogram have brought many customers here asking. We’re the ‘kings’ of seafood here. If there were such cheap, quality lobsters elsewhere, why wouldn’t we have them? The reality is, lobsters don’t need ‘rescuing.’ It’s just the season, so prices are a bit lower, maybe by a few tens of thousands to 100,000 VND per kilogram. As for suffocated lobsters sold cheaply, there’s plenty of those.”
Previously, online sources reported ‘rescue’ lobster prices ranging from 500,000 to 800,000 VND per kilogram, depending on size. However, seafood wholesalers in Ho Chi Minh City emphasize that “buyers might be mistaken, but sellers aren’t” and assert that even lobsters bought at ‘rescue’ prices yield significant profits for sellers.
According to Mrs. Hong, a seafood wholesaler in Tan Binh, there are two types of lobsters: spiny lobsters and green lobsters. Spiny lobsters typically range from 1.2 to 1.5 million VND per kilogram, depending on size, but they are rare and cost twice as much as green lobsters, taking longer to farm. “Green lobsters are less valuable, priced at 500,000 – 650,000 VND per kilogram. They usually weigh 300g – 500g each and won’t grow larger even with extended farming.”
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