Export-quality long-finned eels are now fetching $7000 a metric tonne, compared to $2500 when Myanmar began exports on a trial basis in 2003. Pic: Kyay Monn Win

CONGERS, or long-finned eels, are attracting a larger market share abroad and fetching higher prices – between K10,000 to K15,000 a viss, said U Yone Kan, an eel farmer in Mandalay.

“Now we are getting US$7000 a metric tonne for export quality eels and we are exporting 300 viss to 400 viss a week,” U Yone Kan said (1 viss equals 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds).

But it only fetched $2500 a tonne when Myanmar started to export congers on trial basis in 2003, and then doubled to $5000 a ton in 2004, he said.

Myanmar long-finned eels, which are said to be tastier than Chinese eels, are exported to Kun Tong province in China through the 105-mile border gate and via Yangon airport.

Congers from Ayeyarwady Division are exported to China, especially from July to October when fishermen can make a huge catch, but prices are usually low because there are also plenty of eels in China at that time, he said.

“So I usually export congers from my farms, starting from November when I can get a higher price,” he said.

The eels exported to China are usually checked by Myanmar Fisheries Department and eels weighing less than 0.3 viss are not allowed for export, he said.
“I usually take the rejected small eels to my breeding farms in Mandalay and breed them until they weigh more than 0.6 viss a piece,” he said.

“It is a good thing to breed the small fish and eels instead of exporting them, which would cost the country aquacultural resources,” said U Kyaw San Win, senior province official of Mandalay Fisheries Department.

U Yone Kan got a memorial prize from Myanmar Fisheries Department on World Food Day in October 2007 for his outstanding work in breeding new species of eels.

“I’m gradually expanding my eel farms from 6 to 15 acres and if I can get enough conger fingerlings [conger spawn], I would expand more. But getting enough seeds is not easy,” he said.

Most fish farmers are not interested in breeding congers because they are not familiar with seeds production and appropriate aquaculture technology with congers, he said.

“It’s important to take care with feed and eel diseases. I learned the techniques from books, video films and from asking the Myanmar Fishery Department,” he said.

“I started breeding eels on a trial basis six years ago and lost over K10-20 million within the first three years,” he added.