According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the value of Vietn Nam's tra catfish is expected to continue to fall this in 2016.

Officials anticipate that the value of the tra fish export will see a year-on-year drop of 5% to USD 1.5 billion in 2016. According to VASEP, in 2015, the total value of tra fish exports reached USD 1.6 billion, which was 10% lower than the value in 2014. Meanwhile, the year-on-year value of tra fish exports rose in new markets; by 17% to the UK, 42% to mainland China and Hong Kong SAR, and 2.4% to Saudi Arabia in 2015.

However, 2015 was a difficult year for Vietnamese exports of tra fish products in most large markets. Challenges included lower demand, stagnant selling prices as well as increasingly stricter standards on quality, food hygiene and safety. Of particular concern to the industry has been the recent US preliminary result of its anti-dumping administrative review (POR-11) on Vietnamese tra fish fillets.

Current raw material prices are reported to have risen and on 15 March 2016 were quoted at VND 21 500 per kg compared with VND 20.500 per kg, the price quoted a week prior. This price increase is due to a shortage in supply from the Mekong Delta Province. Industry sources reported that the shortage will peak during April to August 2016 when exports are usually high. This is expected to put further upward pressure on prices.