Shrimp businesses advised to increase competitiveness

HCM City (VNA) – Shrimp enterprises should seek ways to increase competitiveness to realise the sector’s export target of 4.2 billion USD in 2019, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Processing shrimp for exports (Photo: VNA)

Businesses need to increase the quality of their products to international standards and use communication strategies to encourage customers in the Western and Eastern Europe to buy shrimp certified by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

Processing and export firms should make use of free trade agreements (FTAs) to reach the projected export turnover of 1 billion USD in Europe.

The combined export turnover in the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China is expected to hit 3 billion USD. 

Besides choosy markets, businesses see China as a large consumer of Vietnamese shrimp. However, to export to China, they must meet the higher quality criteria set by the neighbouring country.

Deep processing is considered an effective solution for shrimp exporters given fiercer competition from India and Ecuador.

Vietnam is home to nearly 100 shrimp processing plants with an average annual capacity of about 500,000 – 700,000 tonnes. 

Last year, the shrimp sector recorded a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percent to 3.6 billion USD in export value.