Seafood processors suffer shriveling shrimp supplies

Fears of a shrimp shortage by the end of this year have grown among export processors, said the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.

Many shrimp farmers had harvested their products early to take advantage of prices which are 50 per cent higher than the same period last year, said the association.

In addition, the expansion of shrimp farming areas in recent years had not met the increasing demand from export processing plants, the association said.

One enterprise in the Mekong Delta said that over the past 10 years, the export value of shrimp had doubled while the total shrimp farming area had grown at a slower pace, and even declined due to disease and other losses.

During that time, shrimp processors and exporters had invested in expanding their shrimp processing capacity for exports.

As a result, most plants were operating at 50-60 per cent of their capacity, the association said.

In southern Soc Trang Province, many factories had the capacity to process 60 tonnes of shrimp per day but they only had access to five or six tonnes per day.

Enterprises had been expressing fears that this might happen since early this year, leading the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to encourage shrimp farming enterprises to further develop their production area in order to meet export demands.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said shrimp exports had increased in terms of both volume and value. In the first seven months of this year, shrimp exports experienced a year-on-year increase in volume of 15.5 per cent to 110,300 tonnes and 20 per cent in value to US$929.2 million.

Viet Nam expected to earn $1.4 billion from shrimp exports this year, said the ministry. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Seafood, Vietnam seafood sector