Promoting Seafood Exports to Russia
“Unless Vietnam promotes seafood exports to Russia in the beginning of 2010, total seafood exports will change significantly this year,” said Duong Ngoc Minh, the head of the Management Board for Seafood Exports to Russia.
Regarding seafood exports in 2009, Luong Le Phuong, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that despite the adverse impacts of the world economic downturn, the Vietnamese fishery sector maintained traditional markets in the EU, the US, Japan and more and spread to the markets in other countries like South America and the Middle East. Particularly, Russia opened its market again in May 2009 for Vietnamese seafood exports and the two parties have held many meetings to make it possible for much Vietnamese seafood to enter the market in Russia.
At this time, 127 countries and territories buy Vietnamese seafood. These include Russia, a new, potential market for Vietnam. From May to November 2009, Vietnam sold almost 40,000 tonnes of seafood to Russia at more than US$64 million. The Vietnam Seafood Processors and Exporters Association (VASEP) said that the price of seafood exports to Russia was 15-20 percent higher than to other countries in Europe. The Management Board for Seafood Exports to Russia said that the price of seafood exports to Russia increased 5-7 percent from 2008-2009 while it fell 10-15 percent in other markets.
Russians like seafood, particularly Tra and Basa fish. However, Vietnamese seafood exports to Russia are insignificant when compared with the demand in this big market. Luong Le Phuong said that producing and selling fish at profit is a difficult question for farmers and that the state has not yet put in place a strict mechanism for Vietnamese seafood exports. Moreover, it is also difficult for seafood exporters to deliver products at the right time since problems exist, regarding farming and the export mechanism, which is not transparent.
VASEP said that Vietnamese shrimp breeding and processing is definitely not worse than that of Thailand. However, domestic companies are less competitive than those in Thailand. A company representative said that in the event that Vietnamese companies can establish strong brand names and ally with each other, they are likely to overcome the shortcomings. Vietnam sold abroad almost US$1.4 billion worth of Tra fish in 2009, a slight drop against 2008 despite the increased volume. Deputy Minister Luong Le Phuong said that Tra fish still plays a leading role in the Vietnamese fishery sector. He also said that the Russian market is not difficult in terms of product quality but is difficult in terms of procedures and payment. However, this is not a big question for Vietnam, he said.
At a meeting held recently in Ho Chi Minh City to review Vietnamese seafood exports in 2009, Tran Thien Hai, the chairman of VASEP, proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development meet Russian officials to make it easier for domestic businesses to build export capacity. He also suggested that the Management Board for Seafood Exports to Russia provide strong support for export businesses. In addition, related offices should get together to make proper export plans to keep abreast of the export market. It is also important to establish a foothold in high-quality market segments just because Vietnamese seafood is as good as that from other countries.
Truong Dinh Hoe, the general secretary of VASEP, believed that Vietnam can export more than 500,000 tonnes of Tra fish and more than 200,000 tonnes of shrimp this year. He also hoped that domestic seafood businesses can expand the markets in East Europe, North Africa and India. VASEP said that the Vietnamese fishery sector will try to sell abroad US$4.5 billion worth of seafood in 2010 thus creating a momentum for reaching the target at US$5 billion in the near future
Tags: Vietnam Seafood, Vietnam seafood exports
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