(pangasius-vietnam.com) Vietnam
Addressing at the opening ceremony of workshop on “Certification and Sustainable development of Pangasius” in Ho Chi Minh city, Mr. Duong Ngoc Minh – Head of VASEP’s Freshwater Fish Committee – stressed that the workshop offered Vietnam pangasius industry an opportunity to understand basic requirements and criteria and review aquacultural operations in general and pangasius farming in particular in the past. Fully understanding quality standards could lead the industry to better orientations in producing, processing and trading operations in the coming time.
According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Dzung – Deputy President of VASEP, over the past 10 years, Vietnam pangasius industry’s production and export obtained miracle progress that could be considered as case of Cinderella. In fact, pangasius farming areas reached 6,000 hectares, 5 times higher than 10 years ago; raw pangasius production increased 36 times; finished products 40 times; export value 35 times; and pangasius was exported to 140 countries and territories. Currently, there are 49 enterprises granted GlobalGAP certification and different sustainable standards; 103 pangasius farms with areas of 2,805 hectares have been or are being certified by different sustainable standards; 5 farms owned by processing companies are implementing PAD standard and waiting for accreditation and certification by ASC.
Apart from potential advantages and remarkable progress, pangasius industry is facing great challenges relating to fluctuation of raw material price, fast-rising input cost, including aquacultural feed. In the coming time, it is necessary to mobilize enterprises’ support to shift from quantity to quality target and implement vertical integrity in order to lead the industry to sustainability.