VIETFISH 2012 – At a glance

This year, VIETFISH held in Saigon Exhibiton & Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh city from 26th – 28th June 2012 welcomed honorable guests such as Cao Duc Phat - the Head of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), PhD. Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development of Sri Lanka.

In the visit to VIETFISH on 27^th June 2012, Mr.Phat highly appreciated VASEP’s efforts to organise VIETFISH 2012 and hoped that the association will keep holding the exhibition as South-East Asia’s biggest annual fishery show.

At VIETFISH, Mr Phat had talks with VASEP’s Executive Board andrepresentatives of some member companies and visited display booths of Minh Phu Seafood Corp, Hai Nam Co., Ltd, Samefico, Pharmaq and Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA).

This year, Vietnam shrimp industry meets many difficulties in production and export due to the spread of shrimp disease. Shrimp price in international markets keeps going down while input costs keep going up. Vietnam shrimp processors are strugglingwith shortage of raw material, shared Le Van Quang, General Director and Chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corp.

The situation is tougher as shrimp from Vietnam has to suffer unfair treatment of some importing markets. In this context, shrimp business community really needs supportive policies set by the government to protect them from unfair international trade barriers.

According to Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Chairman of VASEP Marine Product Committee and Director of Hai Nam Co., Ltd, marine fish sector also sees the same situation. Local fishermen face persistent problems as marine fish stocks are declining and fishing cost remains too expensive.

Therefore, it is important that the government has financial policies to help fishermen go fishing and producers get more money to apply modern technologies in processing operation.

Mr. Phat said that MARD always highly appreciated recommendations of VASEP and its members in order to solve existing problems and facilitate seafood companies. In July 2012, MARD will hold a meeting with representatives from seafood companies to hear their obstacles and find solutions for them.

PhD. Rajitha Senaratne applauded Vietnam fisheries industry

In June 26th 2012, PhD.Rajitha participated in cutting inauguration band VIETFISH 2012 and visiting the Exhibition.

Before that, in June 25^th 2012, after visiting the pangasius farming area of HUNG VUONG CORP (the second largest pangasius exporter of Vietnam) in Tien Giang province, Mr.Rajitha Senaratne highly appreciated pangasius sector development of Vietnam. He really admired and surprised at pangasius production chain of HUNG VUONG CORP.

Answering reporters at VIETFISH, Mr. Rajitha Senaratne said that this is a large Fisheries International Exhibition he’s ever attended. Coming to Vietnam this time, he had a chance to witness and understand more about Vietnam fisheries, particularly processing and aquaculture activities. Sri Lanka is planning to boost cooperation with Vietnam seafood enterprises.

Sri Lanka is also a new and potential market for Vietnam seafood enterprises. Despite advantages in fishing and aquaculture, Sri Lanka needs to learn much from Vietnam, he continued.

He had a meeting with representatives from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, VASEP, visited and learned about sea weed culture and sea cucumber farming in Khanh Hoa province during the visit to Vietnam.

VASEP and KFTA‘s future cooperation agreements

On 27th June, the second day of VIETFISH, VASEP held a meeting with representatives of Korean Fishery Trade Association (KFTA).

The two associations discussed cooperation agreements in the next future. At the meeting, VASEP and KFTA agreed to set out the content of agreements and planned to sign memorandum of understanding at Korea’s Busan International Seafood & Fisheries Exposition (BISFE) in next November 2012. VASEP and KFTA aimed to intensify regular participations of their member companies in Vietnam and Korea’s international events on seafood trade, including BISFE and VIETFISH. The two parties committed to improve the quality and safety of seafood products traded between Vietnam and Korea; as well as share necessary information on seafood trade activities in the two sides.

In the coming time, KFTA will cooperate closely with VASEP to strengthen Vietnam seafood’s quality and prestige in Korean market.

ASC with Vietnam fish

On the occasion of VIETFISH 2012, Bureau Veritas Vietnam held the seminar on “The lastest updating of ASC standard and penetration to potential markets: Japan, Korea and the Middle East” in purpose to update new information to Vietnam seafood companies and help them find ways to overcome new trade barriers set by these markets.

The seminar was attended by Jose R.Villalon - Chairman of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Do Thanh Muon - Director of Bureau Viritas Vietnam and Nguyen Hoai Nam - Vice General Secretary of VASEP.

In 2011, the organization developed four ASC standards for farmed species including tilapia, pangasius, bivalve and abalone. ASC shrimp standard will be launched into the market in next September 2012. Until June 2012, 20 companies with 25 fish farms has applied for certification.

In the next future, it will undertake assessments of 20 other farms. There are also 13 fish farms sending ASC their assessment plan.

R.Villalon said that the program expected to certified 100,000 MT of fish among 1,400,000 MT of Vietnam pangasius production this year.

Japan is regarded as one of Vietnam’s three most potential seafood importing markets, including South Korea and Middle East. Seafood export to Japan increased from US$465 million in 2001 to US$1 billion in 2011.

According to Nguyen Hoai Nam, Japan remains high seafood demand market and represents 19 – 25 percent of Vietnam total earnings from seafood export. Most of high value items from Vietnam like shrimp, tuna, and cephalopod are so welcome by Japanese consumers.

However, Vietnam just ranked the 10th position among seafood suppliers to Japan; therefore, Vietnam seafood exporters may see more chances in this destination.

Recently, Japan government aims to tighten control of banned anti-biotic and drugs in seafood from Vietnam, particularly shrimp products. On 18^th May, Japan started to inspect 30 percent of imported shrimp consignments from Vietnam. VASEP and National Agro Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance (NAFIQAD) are trying to ask Japanese authorities to remove the unfair barrier.

Besides Japan, South Korea is also a potential market to Vietnam seafood. Food safety is key requirement when exporting seafood to South Korea, which occupies the 4^th place among Vietnam seafood’s leading importers. To keep exports to this market, Vietnam suppliers need to develop partnership with Korean buyers and diversify exported items to meet demand of its consumers.