Quoc Viet upping ASC-certified shrimp volumes

Shrimp farmer and exporter Quoc Viet Seaproducts’ main investment focus at the moment is the gaining of certifications for larger volumes of its production, said commercial director Ngo Quoc Tuan.

“This year we’re working with more farmers’ co-operatives, and more large, intensive farms, too,” he told Undercurrent News. 

Quoc Viet supports smallholding farmers with training and equipment, in order to help bring them up to standards which allow the company to certify its full chain. It also commits to buying the certified shrimp at a certain price level, in order to incentivize the changes, said Tuan.

“This year we have more farms under ASC [Aquaculture Stewardship Council] assessment — we hope to go from 30% to 35% of our total volumes certified by the end of the year.”

The company also maintains Best Aquaculture Practices and Global GAP standards, he said. It aims to produce 20,000 metric tons of finished products by the end of 2017.

“We hope the farming remains stable, as our plants have excess capacity we can fill, and there’s plenty of demand,” he noted.