Shrimp prices expected to recover in Q3

Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – The price of material shrimps is forecast to recover in August and September after suffering drops over the past months, especially in the second quarter of 2018, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

The VASEP explained that shrimp crops in major suppliers like India, Bangladesh and Thailand have finished, causing a decline in supply sources, while many Vietnamese firms have received big orders for year-end events.

Experts advised that farmers should not hastily sell their immature shrimps, but grow big shrimps for better profit as the shrimp price.

At the same time, shrimp growers should use new technology, while focusing on fostering cooperation towards value chains to improve product quality and reduce costs.

Meanwhile, businesses should concentrate on developing products with higher added value and higher quality to penetrate high-end markets.

Vietnam’s shrimp exports started falling from April this year when revenue reached only 257.2 million USD, down 0.4 percent over the same period last year. The sector suffered sharper yea-on-year drop of 5.7 percent in May and even 15 percent in June.

The increase in global shrimp supply sources and the decrease in prices led to a slump in domestic shrimp prices from April. Notably, the price of white-leg shrimp has fallen 20-30 percent and is yet to see signs of recovery.

Many international organisations predicted that shrimp output of major world suppliers will recover, with total production to exceed 3.5 million tonnes in 2018, the highest point in 10 years.

This year, many big shrimp suppliers have also given support policies to boost the sector’s growth, resulting in higher production, while demand has decreased.

Tran Van Linh, General Director of Thuan Phuoc seafood and trading company said that the impacts of the increase in USD price compared to other currencies such as Euro, Japanese yen and Korean won has also been a challenge for shrimp exports.

Linh expressed fears that if shrimp prices do not increase in the rest of the year, exporters will suffer a lack of material sources as farmers reduce their shrimp farms.

Despite the downturn in shrimp exports in the second quarter, revenue in the first six months of this year still expanded about 7.6 percent to 1.6 billion USD thanks to growth of more than 20 percent in the first quarter. Particularly, exports of white-leg shrimp grew 18 percent with 1 billion USD in value.