Seafood exporters have backs to wall
HCM CITY (March 4, 2003) — Viet Nam’s fisheries industry faces a serious challenge to meet its annual export target, according to Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Viet Thang.
The sector will have to deal with problems posed by changing markets and new technologies to achieve the target, which has been set at US$2.3 billion.
Speaking after a conference on the fisheries industry in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta last week, Thang said seafood exporters have been hit by unfavourable tariffs applied by the US Trade Department on imports of Vietnamese tra and basa fish. The tariffs are expected to have a negative impact on the country’s seafood exports for some time.
The sector is also facing a second lawsuit for alleged dumping of shrimp on the US market. If the claim is successful, the industry will be hit even harder as earnings from shrimp exports US are higher than those from tra and basa.
The deputy minister said the fisheries sector needed to prepare specific development plans and map out strategies for production and trading.
Initially, up-to-date and accurate information should be gathered on demand in major markets around the world, he said. Domestic seafood breeding and processing enterprises will then be able to outline export and production plans tailored to the demands of each market.
The minister proposed that provincial fisheries and agricultural offices focus on developing hi-tech seafood farms according to efficient models, and creating co-operation teams such as those currently at work in the southern provinces of An Giang, Binh Dinh and Ben Tre.
Thang also endorsed a suggestion from An Giang Province to create a number of production centres in the Cuu Long region for breeding disease-free hybrid shrimp.
He said that in an effort to meet the huge demand from Cuu Long provinces, the Ministry of Fisheries had already created six production centres for hybrid shrimp under a plan for a nationwide production scheme.
Close co-operation between shrimp breeders in central regions and the Cuu Long Delta is expected to ease the shortage of hybrid shrimp in the south while boosting business for breeders. However, Thang said, it is important that scientists develop methods that will allow farmers to breed their own stocks of hybrid shrimp to improve efficiency in the industry.
A comprehensive network of veterinarians for the fisheries industry has also been proposed, with Thang calling on the Ministry of Education and Training to run specialised courses at universities.
In the first two months of the year, the nation’s fishery sector earned $238.7 million in export revenue, accounting for 10.38 per cent of the annual target and surpassing revenue for the same period last year by nearly 40 per cent.
A total of 56,606 tonnes of product were exported, including 13,523 tonnes of frozen fish, 11,000 tonnes of frozen shrimp and 6,419 tonnes of frozen cuttlefish and octopus. — VNS
