Vietnam partners with Dutch consortium to improve shrimp quality

A collective of Dutch companies involved in the shrimp sector, including Skretting-owned Nutreco, have joined a project to improve the quality of Vietnamese shrimp aquaculture by sharing their own knowledge with the Southeast Asian industry.

The three-year project is being run at the request of the Dutch embassy in Hanoi, as the European nation is the second-largest importer of Vietnamese shrimp within the EU.

Vietnam's shrimp farming sector has grown rapidly in the past few years, with the intensity of aquaculture in some areas presenting the country with a host of disease and antibiotic problems.

In particular, high demand has led to farmers producing an inferior product, often of a lower size or failing to meet certain environmental criteria required for overseas export.

The project will, therefore, focus on developing Vietnam's shrimp aquaculture value chain, demonstrating best practice, and transferring expertise through a number of protocols and training programs.

Companies involved in the collaborative project besides Nutreco include Topsy Baits, Shrimpvet, TipTopp Aquaculture and Sustainable Aquaculture Solutions. Meanwhile, Larive International and Openasia will act as project overseers and liaison between the parties involved as well as the Dutch government.

Vietnam currently produces 300,000 metric tons of black tiger shrimp every year, making it one of the world's top producers of the species. However, the rapid rise of shrimp aquaculture in the country has also brought it into direct competition with India's own shrimp export trade, with the two countries competing for business in several markets.