September 22, 2010

Vietnamese seafood processors suffer as supplies shrivel

Fears of a shrimp shortage by the end of this year have grown among Vietnamese export processors, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Many shrimp farmers had harvested their products early to take advantage of prices which are 50% higher than the same period last year, VASEP said. In addition, the expansion of shrimp farming areas in recent years had not met the increasing demand from export processing plants.

One enterprise in the Mekong Delta said that over the past 10 years, the export value of shrimp had doubled while the total shrimp farming area had grown at a slower pace, and even declined due to disease and other losses. During that time, shrimp processors and exporters had invested in expanding their shrimp processing capacity for exports. As a result, most plants were operating at 50-60% of their capacity, the association said.

In southern Soc Trang Province, many factories had the capacity to process 60 tonnes of shrimp per day but they only had access to 5-6 tonnes per day.

Enterprises had been expressing fears that this might happen since early this year, leading the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to encourage shrimp farming enterprises to further develop their production area in order to meet export demands.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) said shrimp exports had increased in terms of both volume and value. In the first seven months of this year, shrimp exports experienced a year-on-year increase in volume of 15.5% to 110,300 tonnes and 20% in value to US$929.2 million.

Vietnam expected to earn US$1.4 billion from shrimp exports this year, according to the MIT.