What is constraining production and export of shrimp and shutchi catfish?

For the shrimp industry, the increase of input costs has led to high product prices, reducing competitiveness in the international market. Meanwhile, unfair competition between enterprises has caused the export price of shutchi catfish to decrease and the product quality went down.

The problem is unfair competition between businesses, causing the export price of shutchi catfish to decrease and the quality of the product also goes down. Photo: N.Thanh

According to the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first four months of 2021, Vietnam's seafood exports are estimated at 601.6 thousand tonnes with a value of $2.386 billion, up by 7.14% in volume and 6.06% in value from the same period in 2020.

Shrimp exports reached 106.3 thousand tonnes with a value of $944.38 million, increasing by 8.03 in volume and 9.74 in value and shutchi catfish exports reached 252.4 thousand tonnes with a value of $495.6 million, increasing by 11.5% in volume and 10.5% in value.

Talking to Customs News, Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the General Department of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said in terms of fishing, in the first months of 2021, the weather in fishing grounds was good for fishing activities so it increased production effectiveness.

The estimated fishing output by the end of April 2021 topped 1.2 million tonnes (reaching 31.7% of the plan for 2021).

In terms of aquaculture, since the beginning of the year to the end of April 2021, brackish water shrimp production hit 178.7 thousand tonnes (increasing by 5.5% over the same period in 2020) and shutchi catfish harvest output was estimated at 428 thousand tonnes, increasing by 0.9% over the same period in 2020.

Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, assessed that, besides advantages in terms of export markets, currently the production and consumption of key aquatic products are facing challenges with many difficulties.

Specifically, regarding shrimp, the cost of inputs such as breeder, feed, and inoculants increases, leading to high product costs, slashing profits and competitiveness in the international market.

Regarding shutchi catfish, the problem is unfair competition between businesses, causing the export price of shutchi catfish to decrease and the quality of the product also goes down, harming the reputation of shutchi catfish products.

Toan also added that with seafood, post-harvest losses were still high, and profits were severely reduced, leading to an increase of imports for processing.

In the context of complex pandemic developments, it caused the increase in input costs, especially logistics (renting ships, renting refrigerated containers); human resources for seafood processing were increasingly scarce and regulations and technical barriers were increasing, causing an increase in production costs while the average export price tended to decrease.

"These elements greatly affected the profit and efficiency of seafood production and business," Toan said.

Director General of the General Department of Fisheries Tran Dinh Luan said in the coming time, the General Department will focus on directing and guiding localities to produce seafood, focusing on key products such as brackish water shrimp and shutchi catfish to ensure sources of raw materials for processing and exporting seafoods; ensure food security for the domestic consumption market amid the unpredictable Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, strengthening management of inputs in aquaculture production; supporting localities to quickly complete the process of granting farm codes and promote the application of science and technology, technical progress and digital technology. These moves were aimed at optimising production costs, increasing the competitiveness of seafood products and traceability.

Another important content was to effectively control the source of raw materials for exploitation and import of aquatic products in compliance with Vietnam's conditions and regulations and international practices, ensuring requirements for origin traceability to create a legal source of raw materials for processing and exporting seafood.