July 5, 2013

Vietnam plans to build tra fish centre in EU

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) intends to set up a distribution and auction centre for Vietnamese tra fish products for the EU market.

Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairman of VASEP, said on the sidelines of the Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition 2013 (Vietfish 2013) last week that VASEP's executive committee and member companies have worked with representatives of the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium on developing such a centre.

The facility will distribute tra fish for Belgium as well as the EU market. Online auctions will be applied at the centre, he added.

According to Dung, such a model is aimed at preventing local enterprises from undercutting one another, thus eliminating unhealthy competition.

Instead of selling products to individual customers in a traditional way, Vietnamese tra fish exporters will not have to undergo an intermediary stage but go straight to the distribution system before products reach consumers.

Zeebrugge port's modern infrastructure and technical system helps shorten the transport duration of goods and enables Vietnamese exporters receive money before goods arrive, Dung said.

"More importantly, a large volume of Vietnamese tra fish is gathered at one place. After that, we can use big vessels to save costs for enterprises," he said.

However, the greatest problem is that this is an enormous change compared to the traditional selling method of enterprises. Besides, it is likely that enterprises will lose some of their existing customers, which may be not accepted by many enterprises, according to Dung.

VASEP will be the main unit in charge of organising this programme, coordinating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as with Belgian authorities and enterprises. The programme's estimated cost is not revealed, but the detailed plan will be presented to the ministry this November.

EU is one of the biggest tra fish markets of Vietnam. According to VASEP, the tra fish export to EU reached US$150.08 million in the January-May period, down 17.6% on-year.