(The Saigon Times Daily) Despites difficulties such as material and capital shortage and slow consumption, the Vietnam Association of Seafood exporters and Producers (VASEP) maintain the nation will meet its seafood export revenue target of US$6.5 billion for this year compared to US$6.1 billion in 2011.
According to VASEP, the nation’s seafood export revenue hit US$3.4 billion in the January-July period, a 6.5% year-on-year increase. This means that the seafood industry should fetch US$3.1 billion more from now until the end of this year to fulfill its target.
VASEP general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe presented three reasons for maintaining the target, saying that there was a mild decrease in seafood export value in the second quarter, when consumption on the European market usually slows down during summer vacations. VASEP expected seafood exports to bounce back by the end of the month or September when the holidays are over.
Secondly, exporter sentiment has also improved given the Government’s solutions on rescheduling loans and lowering interest rates, Hoe said.
VASEP estimated seafood export revenue in the third quarter will reach US$1.84 billion, rising by 17% against the previous quarter and 7% compared to the same period last year and taking to US$4.7 billion the total export value in the January-September period. Of which, exports in August and September need to be high to compensate for low figures in July.
However, Nguyen Van Kich, general director of Cafatex Company, said that seafood exports have been slow so far due to difficulties in import markets.
Shrimp exports have been hindered by Japan’s Ethoxyquin content test while other markets like the U.S. and Europe have limited imports. Besides, the nation finds it hard to compete with India, which provides much cheaper shrimp than Vietnam.
“I am not sure about VASEP’s seafood export forecast of US$6.5 billion this year due to slow consumption,” Kich added.
Other enterprises also told the Daily that it will be difficult to obtain seafood export value of US$6.5 billion this year as material sources are declining while enterprises have yet to access bank loans.
Vietnam has plans to expand white leg shrimp farming areas in the future, while reducing the areas of tiger shrimp given market demands.
Accordingly, the nation will produce 30 billion tiger shrimp in 2015 but only 29 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, white leg shrimp output will rise from 33 billion in 2015 to 57 billion in 2020.
VASEP general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe told the Daily that market demands are the main cause of the plan adjustment.
Consumers in import markets have gradually shifted to use products made from white leg shrimp instead of tiger shrimp. Therefore, Vietnam has to adapt to these new habits, Hoe said.