Will seafood exports reach 9 billion USD target?

Seafood processing for export. Source: Internet.

3.5 billion USD is waiting ahead

Although seafood exports increased 8.5% over the same period last year, but export turnover in the first eight months of 2018 reached about 5.5 billion USD. Thus, we still have 3.5 billion USD to achieve seafood export target of 9 billion USD this year.

The two major seafood export products with good growth momentum for Vietnam are shrimp and catfish, which are expected to continue creating momentum for Vietnam’s seafood exports for the rest of this year. According to VASEP, exporters still consider the EU an important market and have made efforts to improve quality, increase market share in this area. For catfish, Vietnam boosts exports by developing new products, increasing premium products, increasing value, decreasing the rate of glazing, improving product quality.

VASEP General Secretary Truong Dinh Hoe, said that in addition to the price of catfish products having increased significantly recently, in the EU market, some other species of white fish lost during the season, so catfish was selected as a substitute product. This has contributed to the trend of trading and trade of catfish in this market, and the export turnover of Vietnamese catfish to the EU has shown signs of recovery in recent months. According to data released by the General Department of Customs, in the first seven months of 2018, catfish exports to the EU market reached over 139 million USD, an increase of 16.5% over the same period in 2017. The EU is the third largest market importing Vietnam catfish and accounted for 11.6% of export market, after China and USA.

Although catfish exports to the EU are showing signs of recovery, however, experts recommend smear communication remains one of the biggest challenges for the catfish industry in this market in the future. Therefore, the catfish industry should focus on building the brand name Catfish Vietnam and also promote the image of catfish in the market. At the same time, positioning export strategy in the high-end product segment, value-added products with high price and good quality. Thus, the export of catfish is really sustainable not only in the EU but also in other export markets.

Obstacles from staples

Shrimp is the main export of Vietnamese enterprises has many advantages. Mr. Le Van Quang, Chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Company, said that there are about 7,000 processed shrimp products, mainly for export. According to Mr. Quang, shrimp products cooked by Minh Phu Seafood Company are very good exporters, about 7 containers per day, production companies cannot meet the orders.

Dr. Ho Quoc Luc, Chairman of FIMEX Vietnam, said that Vietnam now has nearly 100 shrimp processing plants with an average capacity of 500,000 - 700,000 tons/ year, can be expanded to double in size in a short time. Vietnam also has many large-scale processing plants such as Minh Phu, Vinh Hoan, and Hung Vuong to meet the demand of large distribution systems ... with the best processing level of refined goods in the world.

While assessing the export prospects of the shrimp industry in Vietnam in the coming time is quite bright, Dr. Ho Quoc Luc said that there are still difficulties and challenges to overcome. This is the situation of small shrimp with scattered scale due to scattered land production. Currently there are too many shrimp seed production facilities (about 1,700) so the quality control of shrimp seed and broodstock is not tight. In addition, the shrimp industry in Vietnam is concentrated mainly in the Mekong Delta, but the area has many restrictions with transport infrastructure, resulting in prolonged transportation of products that reduce the quality of seafood and increased costs incurred. Another problem is that the cost of shrimp farming in Vietnam is higher than many other countries in the region due to high price of fingerlings, feed, processing and marketing costs.

To improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the world market, Dr. Ho Quoc Luc proposed solutions such as more detailed aquaculture zoning, satisfactory investment, synchronous infrastructure, large farming areas, and international farm scale base on cooperative farming or land accumulation. In addition, it is necessary to have a national broodstock familyizing (species ?) program and to control the shrimp supply system more closely.