Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA)
Sharp growth in markets In spite of meeting difficulties such as natural calamities, high anti-dumping duties on shrimp and catfish, catfish inspection programs, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing yellow card warnings from the EU, increasing quarantine from markets and competitive pressure from other countries, Vietnam’s seafood exports in 2017 exceeded the expectations of both management agencies and enterprises, recording the highest ever value of more than USD8.3 billion compared to the set target of USD7 billion, a year-on-year rise of 18.7%.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said the record high value came from the strong growth of major export commodities, especially shrimp gaining an increase of 21% with a value of over USD3.8 billion, making up 46% of the total.
Among 167 export markets, most big exporters witnessed impressive growth. The EU had growth of over 21%, surpassing the US to top the list regarding value. China, in spite of ranking fourth on turnover, gained the highest growth, approximately 49%. Meanwhile, due to high anti-dumping tariff, the US market saw a reduction of -2.9%.
The two key markets of Vietnamese catfish, the EU and the US, saw sharp decreases of nearly 23% and some 11%. However, thanks to strong increases from Brazil, Mexico, and China, catfish exports hit USD1.8 billion this year, up 4% over a year earlier.
Abundant orders, plentiful production capacity in 2018
Le Van Quang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company which achieved nearly USD630 million of shrimp export turnover in 2017, believed that shrimp and seafood exports offer opportunities to continue to obtain break-through growth in 2018.
Specifically, new aquaculture technology, high productivity and current benefits of more than 50% are motive forces to encourage farmers to foster investment. Besides, plentiful materials and decreasing input prices for processing enterprises are contributing to reducing the cost of products and improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp.
Regarding markets, Chairman of Thong Thuan Seafood Limited Company Truong Huu Thong said macro-economic indicators like stable exchange rate and interest rate and growth of the world economy help facilitate the fishery sector.
He shared that in the first days of 2018, the company received more orders than the same time in previous years. The high profitability of shrimp farmers and the sharp increase in material shrimp output are foundations for great expectation of fulfilling the export target of USD8.5 billion or even reaching USD9 billion.
Reform to fully tap potential
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong warned that in spite of advantages in 2018, the seafood sector would face challenges and should not be subjective.
Specifically, the sector will face unpredictable and fierce climate change; issues arising from breeding and processing phases like antibiotic residues and impurities in products; inspection programs and yellow cards of the European Commission on IUU in export markets that force it to develop in the direction of sustainability, large-scale production and traceability.
From the point of view of producers, Mr. Quang said the growth potential of the fishery sector is still great, but turning it into results in export value figures required ministries and sectors to continue to reform and cut unnecessary administrative procedures.
In 2017, many agricultural licenses were removed, however, he stressed there are still unnecessary permits for State management that hinder enterprises from realizing business deals.
In its petition submitted to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies, VASEP continued to underline management work on residues of antibiotics and impurities in export shrimp. VASEP said that this is a key issue which forces enterprises to further control quality in the entire production chain, from the origin to products.
The organ also urged the Ministry to establish or consolidate specific programs to tighten controls on antibiotics residues and impurities for the shrimp industry./.