Export of shrimps speeds up

After declining for a long time, the prices of shrimps in Mekong Delta provinces have rebounded, encouraging farmers to continue to expand farming areas. Export of shrimps also showed signs of recovery, fostering enterprises to speed up during the last months of this year.

The prices of material shrimps in Mekong Delta provinces have climbed again. (Photo: SGGP)

At key shrimp farming areas in the Mekong Delta, the prices of shrimps went up in favor of farmers. Mr. Pham Van Quan, a farmer in My Long Nam Commune in Cau Ngang District in Tra Vinh Province, said that last crop, his family suffered a loss of more than VND200 million due to diseases. Because of low prices, he dared not to start new shrimp crop but now, as the prices of shrimps have started to inch up, his family prepares new crop in order to harvest at the end of the year, hoping that this crop will help them to make up for the loss in previous crop.

In Ca Mau Province, the prices of white-leg shrimps were on the increase again. Particularly, white-leg shrimps sized 100 pcs per kilogram fetched from VND85,000-VND90,000 per kilogram; white-leg shrimps sized 60 pcs per kilogram were sold at VND105,000-VND110,000 per kilogram; tiger shrimps sized 20 pcs per kilogram priced from VND240,000-VND260,000 per kilogram; tiger shrimps sized 30 pcs per kilogram were at VND200,000 per kilogram; and tiger shrimps sized 40 pcs per kilogram were at VND140,000 per kilogram.

Mr. Vo Van Choi, chairman of the People’s Committee of Ngoc To Commune in My Xuyen District in Soc Trang Province, said that in the first eight months of this year, farmers raised 2,100 hectares of shrimps of all kinds. Of which, 783 hectares of shrimps brought profits, 448 hectares broke even and 177 hectares suffered losses. The remaining area has not been harvested. Loss in shrimp farming was because of diseases or because that farmers had to harvest shrimps prematurely. As for farmers who broke even, the reason was mainly because shrimps grew up slowly. In the past months, the prices of material shrimps were not high, along with diseases, farmers had been struggling. At the present, the prices of shrimps have climbed again, motivating many households to promote shrimp farming in the last months of this year.

According to enterprises processing shrimps for export in the Mekong Delta, large markets in the world purchased shrimps heavily last year so since the beginning of this year, consumption was slow downed, affecting domestic export of shrimps. The export prices of shrimps were not good enough so firms have not speeded up sale, thereby causing negative impact on the prices of material shrimps. Recently, firms have increased purchase of shrimps to fulfill old orders. It is forecast that in next months, export of shrimps will improve and the prices of material shrimps will surge higher.

The Department of Industry and Trade of Ca Mau Province said that, the production of processed shrimps of the provine in the first eight months of this year reached 93,408 tons, accounting for 64 percent of this year’s plan, up more than 2 percent over the same period last year. At the present, export of shrimps signaled recovery, enterprises have promoted export to main markets, including the US, China and Japan in order to make breakthrough at the end of the year.

Shrimp exports of Vietnam in the first six months of this year dropped by 12 percent over the same period last year, of which, the EU’s market fell by nearly 26 percent, Japan declined 2.8 percent, the US slid 2 percent and China sank 4.9 percent. This has forced enterprises to put all efforts in the remaining months of this year. Owing to that, the market has recently changed positively. Shrimp exports touched $334 million in July, up 13.4 percent over the same period last year. 

In addition, the US Department of Commerce had released the final results of the 13th period of review which is from February 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018, imposing zero percent tariff on Vietnamese frozen warm-water shrimps. The final tariffs for two mandatory respondents in the review, consisting of Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company and Nha Trang Seafood Product Company, were both at zero percent. The separate tax rate applied for the remaining 29 Vietnamese shrimp exporters was also at zero percent. The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the final tariff of zero percent for 31 enterprises is a positive signal for shrimp producers and exporters of Vietnam, especially amid the situation protectionism is developing complicatedly.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Van Do, director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ca Mau Province, said that the fact that the US imposed a zero percent tariff for 31 Vietnamese shrimp exporters is encouraging, creating advantages for export of shrimps into this market. Noticeably, the US is having trade dispute with some countries so it limits importing shrimps by imposing duties. Meanwhile, many Vietnamese enterprises received zero percent tariff.

Mr. Tran Van Trung, director of Anh Khoa Seafood Limited Company, said that since the beginning, his company had considered this year to be extremely difficult for export of shrimps due to several reasons and cutthroat competition from other countries in the world. Therefore, his company had prepared many suitable solutions. Consequently, in the first seven months of this year, his company exported more than $13 million worth of shrimps, much higher than the same period last year. Along with optimistic market signal, his company will continue to speed up export in the remaining months of the year.

However, there are also many difficulties in export of shrimps, including the Chinese renminbi devaluation against the US dollar due to the trade war between the US and China. Enterprises which export shrimps to China will be affected as when exporting to China, export value is usually in the Chinese renminbi then will be converted into the US dollar. As for the US market, although 31 Vietnamese shrimp exporters were imposed import tariff of zero percent, the US authority will tighten control on antibiotics as well as technical barriers. Therefore, enterprises should not be subjective but concentrate on investing in farming areas or cooperating to produce clean and safe material shrimps to ensure quality when exporting to the US.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers forecast that the end of the year is a suitable time to speed up export of seafood as global demand during Christmas and New Year will be extremely high. It is essential for provinces to promote farming areas to provide enough material shrimps.