April 21, 2011
Vietnam's processed pangasius fish output seen at 700,000 tonnes in 2011
Vietnam is likely to process between 600,000-700,000 tonnes of pangasius this year, down from 1.2 million tonnes last year, a Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) official said.
General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe attributed the fall to the serious shortage of input materials. A number of local seafood processing plants are working at 30-40% of their designed capacities.
High prices of fish feed, lack of financial investment and regular occurrence of disease have discouraged farmers in the Mekong Delta to raise pangasius fish, the newspaper said.
VASEP also said that the consumption of Vietnam's pangasius fish in European countries decreased drastically after broadcasting of programme 'Pangasius Lie' on German television which blamed the product unclean and unfriendly to environment.
Several supermarkets in Denmark, Norway and Germany refused to sell Vietnamese-sourced pangasius products.
Vietnam's seafood firms have to improve the quality of their products to overcome the difficulties, VASEP urged.