July 14, 2004

Viet Nam Strives For Better Shrimp Quality

In a bid to raise competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the world market, the Ministry of Fisheries in collaboration with the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) is mapping out a plan to expand the country's international-standard shrimp rearing areas.

In line with this, the management of breeding and processing will be strengthened to ensure shrimp quality, the ministry said.

The ministry has recently decided to invest 33.2 billion VND in a project to build a shrimp breeding and quarantine centre in the central province of Ninh Thuan.

The project is to build a high-quality tiger prawn larva production area and a quarantine area in An Hai commune, Ninh Phuoc district. It will also manage, protect and study breeds of broad-stock shrimps in order to cater to production farms in the localities.

Meanwhile, provinces in the Mekong delta, the country's largest shrimp breeding area, are boosting the method of ecological shrimp rearing by combining it with rice cultivation or afforestation. 

The prices of material shrimp have increased in many consecutive days in the Mekong delta, reaching 82,000-95,000 VND per kilo, 4,000-7,000 VND a kilo higher than last week.

According to the VASEP, the price will keep rising as the world's shrimp output is forecast to drop this year. In Viet Nam, due to adverse weather, this year's output is estimated at 70 percent of last year's.