April 10, 2008

Vietnam's shrimp export value drops 6 percent in Q1

Vietnam exported around 27,500 tonnes of shrimp in the first quarter of 2008 worth US$228.5, a drop of 5.8 percent in value.

However, Vietnam's shrimp export volume rose nearly 14 percent.

The decrease in revenues was blamed on the fall of shrimp export prices in March, which averaged US$8.45 a kilo, down by US$0.04 a kilo from February and US$2.13 a kilo from the same month of 2007.

From January to February, the exports hit on-year increases of nearly 23.4 percent in volume and 1.48 percent in value, to 17,740 tonnes worth US$146.25 million.

Analysts predict that Vietnam's exports of frozen shrimp will slow down in the coming months due to the depreciation of US dollars and thin supply.

Currently, high fuel prices and high feed prices are discouraging both offshore fishermen and breeders.

Diseases have also harmed nearly 44,000 hectares of sugpo prawn in Mekong Delta region since the beginning of this year.

Vietnam hopes to export US$1.68 billion worth of shrimps in 2008, accounting for 40 percent of its total seafood export revenues.