December 20, 2007

 

Vietnamese tiger shrimp challenged by lower white shrimp costs

 

 

The competitiveness of Vietnam's tiger shrimp on the global market can wane down by lower-priced white shrimp, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

 

The country is seen to export US$3.6 billion worth of seafood, including US$1.5 billion from shrimp exports, up by 12 percent over the same period last year. But its growth may taper off next year as tiger shrimp is still threatened by the increasingly popular white shrimp.

 

In previous years, tiger shrimp prices always increased by 10 to 20 percent in the final months of the year, especially right before Christmas. But demand has been decreasing due to cheaper white shrimp.

 

On the US market, the white shrimp price is US$1 per 1.5/kg, chunking 80 percent of the market share, while Vietnam's higher cost tiger shrimp retains only 20 percent.

 

Le Van Quang, Deputy Chairman of VASEP said that in order to make tiger shrimp more competitive, Vietnam has no other choice than to lower the production cost.

 

Quang stressed production cost must be reduced to VND50,000/kg  (US$3.11) to compete with white shrimp and adapt the latest shrimp hatchery technologies to reduce production costs.

 

Pham Minh Tien, Director of the Seafood Department of Soc Trang, a province boasting 49,000 hectares of tiger shrimp hatcheries, said there are three major shrimp production responsibilities and challenges: quality and hygiene, environmental pollution and high production costs.

 

Quang said pollution is not of great concern, since modern biological methods has been applied in aquaculture in the last three years. He said that the biggest problem is to get enough adult shrimp capable of breeding because that is what productivity and quality is hinged on.

 

He added Vietnam's shrimp is still unable to reproduce and is still caught in the wild.

 

Knowing the essentiality of producing parent shrimp, producer Hung Phu Company has kicked off a project that will develop a method for producing disease-free parent shrimp.

 

The company's researchers believe that if tiger shrimp productivity can be increased to 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare, this will help reduce production costs.