Many growth opportunities for shrimp exports

This is the result announced at the conference to review the work in the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of 2021 of the Directorate of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) held on July 6.

Deploying aquaculture area codes

Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries Tran Dinh Luan said that in the first 6 months of 2021, the total harvested aquatic product output reached 4.1 million tons, up 3% over the same period in 2020.

Of which, aquaculture output reached 2.1 million tons, up 4%; exploited output reached nearly 2 million tons, up 1%. The value of aquatic product export turnover in the first 6 months of 2021 is estimated at 4 billion USD, up 13.6% over the same period and reaching 47.1% of the annual plan.

According to the Department of Aquaculture under the Directorate of Fisheries, in the first half of this year, the Department of Aquaculture has implemented the registration of codes for shrimp farming facilities, ensuring traceability, and building project programs, especially national programs.

The assignment of codes to aquaculture areas is part of the necessary roadmap for aquatic products to meet technical barriers to importing countries.

Therefore, in the second half of the year, this is also a key task of the Aquaculture Department. At the same time, continue to seize market opportunities to develop key products such as shrimp and pangasius.  

However, the assignment of codes to farming areas and the traceability of shrimp ponds are currently affected by the land law. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is requested to propose to the Prime Minister to amend the Land Law.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that the current Covid-19 situation is complicated with outbreaks appearing in localities with many seafood enterprises. Enterprises are also making efforts to mobilize maximum resources to carry out epidemic prevention work such as vaccinating employees, stopping or cutting production stages, and bringing workers to live within the factory premises.

Regarding exports, the data has recorded many positive developments and results in exports. At the end of the first 6 months of 2021, seafood exports increased sharply compared to the same period last year thanks to many new measures in disease prevention.

Some key products such as shrimp are leading the market share in many large markets, competing with shrimp products from India, Indonesia, and Ecuador. Most of the items grew quite well, such as shrimp, which increased by 13%, pangasius, which increased by 18%, tuna, which increased by 20%, and oysters and clams. Although the turnover was small, the growth rate was up to 45%.

The markets with the largest growth compared to the same period last June were Russia increased by 61%, the US increased by 37%, Europe increased by 31%, the CPTPP bloc increased by 12%, and only China decreased by 6%.

From the perspective of being a link in the production chain and the important role of the Directorate of Fisheries in the period of 2020-2025, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam proposed two contents that need to be highlighted to focus resources at the national level: infrastructure and issues related to the US Marine Mammal Protection Act because it is related to the export category and further to national capacity.

The issue of providing growing area codes for shrimp, a strategic commodity, is currently being discussed a lot in local and business forums to meet the market's requirements for traceability. The problem is that businesses and shrimp pond owners who want to be granted farming codes find it difficult to meet some of the conditions set out, such as having a land and pond use certificate.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien commented that currently, aquaculture and livestock are two sectors that contribute 49.45% to the total production value of the agricultural sector. There is still room for growth in both aquaculture and livestock; if both sectors cannot promote their advantages, the growth of the agricultural sector will find it difficult to achieve the set goals.

Regarding the land issue that the Directorate of Fisheries and VASEP proposed, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that in order to remove obstacles regarding land issues in agricultural production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will propose that the Prime Minister amend the Land Law during this term. However, this issue is not only for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development but also for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will proactively invite the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to find solutions and disseminate them to localities to remove difficulties.

The Covid-19 pandemic creates opportunities for shrimp exports

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult but also a premise for the country's agricultural sector to rise up. The broken production chains and supply chains in the world are favorable conditions for Vietnam to seize opportunities. Vietnam's efforts to prevent and control COVID-19 have achieved relatively good results, creating a foundation for organizing production.

“Currently, India as well as a number of other countries with developed shrimp industries are being seriously and heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Vietnam's shrimp products are assessed to have relatively good quality and productivity. Vietnam's shrimp export market has been expanded recently," Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien shared.

Realizing the opportunity and opportunity since the end of 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has identified this as a time with many favorable conditions for shrimp farming for export. Currently, both output, area, and productivity of shrimp products meet the criteria to not only serve the domestic market but also export internationally in the last months of the year.

Previously, China was a key market for Vietnam's seafood exports. “For seafood, it is necessary to affirm that China is a large market. Vietnam must be more aware of the requirements of this market. Many opinions say that China is an easy-going market, but currently, with a well-off society, a market of 1.4 billion people requires very clear criteria, standards, and regulations,” the Deputy Minister noted.

Over the past many years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Directorate of Fisheries have coordinated with localities to gradually meet the needs of the Chinese market. Thereby increasing the number of enterprises that are allowed to officially export to this market.

“The responsibility of state management agencies and localities is to guide farmers to produce to meet the criteria of each market. If you want to expand exports to any market, you need to thoroughly understand the requirements, standards, and regulations of that market to have a direction for production guidance,” Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien emphasized.

According to VNEconomy.vn