Difficulty in fish sauce production due to lack of anchovy

For a long time, anchovy has been the main raw material for the production of fish sauce in Vietnam. Every year, the main fishing season for anchovy in Vietnam is from February to September, but this year due to the COVID pandemic, the number of anchovies caught decreased by around 50% compared to 2019. Therefore, the price of anchovy increased from 0.66 USD/kg to 1.53 USD/kg, sometimes even up to 2.18USD/kg. As such, fish sauce manufacturers have witnessed a significant increase in their production costs.