Vietnamese catfish exporters and importers in turn blamed U.S. producers for dragging down prices. They say that the Americans are mainly at fault for expanding inventories up to 30 percent, a figure obtained from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (www.usda.gov/nass). Vietnamese fish importers also claim that American catfish growers are to blame for their own difficulties because
they sell the domestic fish in only a few states. ‘‘It is the failure to adequately market the product effectively throughout the U.S.,’’ says Andrew Forman, president of Boston-based Infinity Seafood LLC. According to a report by Consulting Trends International, a California-based consulting firm, the price drop is ‘‘primarily the result of higher domestic catfish inventories in the U.S., which will depress prices through the end of 2001 and 2002.’’