(vasep.com.vn) The number of Vietnam seafood exporters in 2012 reduced by 300 ones from over 900 to over 600. Enterprises which were out of business are mainly commercial companies and exporters facing hardship in capital and import markets. This reflected bottlenecks in enterprises’ seafood trade and exports and it is necessary for them to restructure to overcome difficulties.
Top 100 largest seafood exporters made up 68 percent of Vietnam’s total seafood export value with export turnover of over US$4.3 billion. In which Minh Phu Seafood Corp ranked the first with export revenue of US$357.2 million, occupying the proportion of 5.82 percent. The company was followed by Vinh Hoan Corp: Vinh Hoan Corp earned nearly US$155 million with the proportion of 2.5 percent. Next came Hung Vuong Corp at US$112 million in export turnover and taking the proportion of 1.8 percent.
There were 5 main problems for Vietnam seafood exporters in 2012:
1. Shortage of capital for seafood processing and producing: Although the Government offered preferential interest rate of 11 percent for loans serving for shrimp and pangasius farming, loan procedures were complicated as well as the banks still hesitated to offer loans to fish farmers and enterprises.
2. Instable supply of raw material: Shrimp output sank due to epidemic, early mortality syndrome (EMS) on shrimp. The supply of raw material for processing and exporting was choppy because farmers faced lack of capital, skyrocketing input costs, instable price of raw material and many of them have left their farming ponds idle.
3. Low demand from importers: Seafood demand from main markets such as EU, the U.S., Japan dropped because of economic turmoil. Consumers tended to shift to cheaper food, Vietnam seafood price suffered from high pressure from rivals. As a result, Vietnam’s average export price of seafood products tumbled, badly affecting to its seafood export value.
4. Technical barriers from importers: Shrimp exports were hampered by Ethoxyquin barrier from Japan and South Korea. Besides, China and some Asian countries had signs of creating barriers against Vietnam seafood.
5. Increasing input costs and inadequate administrative procedures raised production costs for seafood exporters and slashed their competitiveness. The number of seafood exporters slumped by 30 percent from 2011 due to lack of capital and raw material, difficulties from importing markets and high fees for food safety inspection on exported seafood products. Particularly, MARD’s Circular No. 55/2011-BNNPTNT on testing and certificating the quality and hygiene of exported seafood products is creating great burden in costs and time for exporters.