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Bran, bean paste costs raise fish feed prices

FISH farmers already being battered by increased competition in international markets now have another issue to contend with: Rising feed prices.

All the ingredients used to make fish feed are increasing in price, which bumps up the overall cost of the feed, a number of industry spokespeople said recently.

A spokesperson for Myanmar Feed Industries and Breeding company told The Myanmar Times that the cheapest manufactured feed costs about K12,000 per 40-kilogram bag, while the best is closer to K17,000. In February 2009 those prices were K11,000 and K16,000 respectively.

But most fish farmers buy the raw materials and mix their own feed because it’s much cheaper. Perversely, higher raw material prices are closing the gap between manufactured feed and the do-it-yourself equivalent.

The major feed ingredient is bran, a by-product of the rice milling industry, which constitutes about 60 to 80 percent of the finished product.

And bran prices are on the way up, sitting nearly 50pc higher than at the same time last year. Bran is selling for about K65-67 per pound (0.45 kilograms) compared with K45 in February 2009.

U Aung Than, owner of 555 shop which sells a variety of feed ingredients at the Bayintnaung Wholesale Commodity Exchange Centre, said bran prices are high because farmers are holding onto their rice paddy in an effort to reap higher prices later in the season.

“The amount of rice paddy coming into rice mills is not great,” he said, adding that this limited supply had pushed prices up.

U Aung Mon, executive committee member of the Myanmar Paddy Producers Association, said although this year’s production was good, the rise in paddy prices had outstripped prices for rice, giving farmers an incentive to hold onto their produce.

“Prices for good quality paddy this year have been about K600,000 for 100 baskets [about 2.1 tonnes], while that was closer to K500,000 at this time last year. The price difference has been even higher in lower quality paddy: It’s about K400,000 compared to only K200,000 in February 2009.

“At the same time bags of milled high-quality pawsan rice is about K4000 more expensive per bag, which weighs 50 kilograms, than last year,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Myanmar Rice Millers Association said mills have been running less because less paddy has been coming in from farmers. He added that 100 baskets of paddy produce between eight and 12 baskets of bran.

Peanut paste prices are also significantly inflated above last year’s at between K750 and K780 per viss (1 viss equals 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds), compared with K450 at this time in 2009.

Sesame paste prices have nearly doubled too – from K380 to K740 a viss, said U Ohn Lwin, chairman of the Myanmar Aquafeed Association, adding that feed prices usually decline from January onward but did the exact opposite this year.

U Aung Kyaw Oo, a wholesale beans and pulses trader at Bayintnaung, said the overall yields of peanut (often called groundnut), sesame and mustard crops was up over last year, rising from about 7 baskets per acre to 10. But he said some crops had been destroyed by bugs.

Ground nut prices are about K1500 a viss, a rise of K400 over last year, said U Zaw Ye Min, sales manager of Zwae peanut and sesame oil trading.

He said the ground nut oil price is about K3400 a viss, when it was K3000 last year. He attributed the price rise for oil and nuts to exports.

U Than Lwin, chairman of the Myanmar Fish Farmers Association, said the variable feed prices was cutting farmers’ profits and would lead to increased fish prices.

A spokesperson for Arsha Thar International, which farms rohu and pomfret, said rising feed prices is not yet a problem. He said the feed price is about K360 a viss but if it reached K400 it would push farmers into loss. He added that to breed each fish cost about K1400 each.

“Fish feed is just one of our costs. And if it rises too high we can always manipulate our schedule to take advantage of other market trends – like harvesting fish during the rainy season when prices are higher,” he said.

Last month, the Department of Fisheries (DOF) increased export prices from between 5pc and 25pc in a bid to reach end-of-year revenue targets. Those increases have already bumped rohu prices up locally by about K50 a viss, said one Myanmar Fisheries Federation official.

 

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