Aquatic and seafood exports: Low in quantity, poor in quality

(Baonghean) - Nghe An has potential for aquaculture and seafood exploitation, but the output and processing for export of these products is not much. The main reason is that although the output of aquatic products is large, it is not uniform. Moreover, the export processing capacity of enterprises in the province is limited. Export data from the Department of Industry and Trade shows that the main export products in this field are fishmeal for animal feed...

Aquatic and seafood products are identified as one of the advantageous export products of Nghe An. However, the export output in this field is still limited compared to the total exploited output. In the first 9 months of 2014, the output of all kinds of aquatic and seafood products reached 73,224 tons, equal to 92% of the yearly plan. According to the data of the Department of Aquaculture, the aquaculture area in the first 10 months of 2014 reached 23,610 hectares, equal to 112% of the yearly plan, the estimated output reached 34,095 tons, equal to 78% of the plan and equal to 105% compared to the same period in 2013. Of which, the output of freshwater aquaculture was 26,280 tons, the output of brackish water aquaculture was 7,815 tons. Meanwhile, the official export in the first 8 months of 2014 only reached 5,405 tons, the export turnover was over 6.7 million USD.

The main export items are fish meal and frozen fish, processed by 3 companies: XuRi Viet Trung Seafood By-product Processing Company Limited, Phuong Mai Company Limited and Phuong Huy Company Limited. Although the world market demand is relatively high and stable, Nghe An's aquatic and seafood products are currently only exported to some "easy" markets such as China and Laos. Because the capacity of export processing enterprises is still limited, they cannot meet the requirements of technology and product quality of "difficult" markets such as the US, Japan, etc.; at the same time, there are limitations in finding partners.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai - Director of Phuong Mai Company Limited shared: “The company really wants to expand the export market, but it is very difficult, requiring good and consistent quality of input materials; at the same time, the company must invest in the right processing infrastructure, a guaranteed wastewater treatment system, etc. to reach demanding markets. With limited financial resources and capacity, we do not dare to take risks because we are afraid of risks. Currently, the company has only been able to access markets suitable to the actual conditions of the unit. The main product is only exporting frozen raw fish to the Lao market. In the first 9 months of 2014, domestic consumption and export were more than 1,000 tons, worth nearly 30 billion VND.”

Phuong Mai Enterprise (Quynh Luu) sells frozen fish.

Nghe An II Seafood Import-Export Joint Stock Company is a unit that is qualified to process seafood for export. The company has invested in installing high-tech IQF seafood processing equipment, allowing the production of high-end products with a capacity of 8 - 10 tons of products/day, meeting the standards for export to demanding markets such as the EU, the US, etc. The export value can reach 10 - 12 million USD/year. The company has also invested in upgrading vacuum packaging technology, Sashimi technology, etc. with a capacity of 5 - 6 tons/day, the export processing value can reach 4 - 5 million USD/year. However, in recent years, due to problems with human resources and finance, the company has stopped production or stagnated production. Currently, the infrastructure and equipment conditions at these factories are increasingly degraded. Currently, this company mainly processes frozen shrimp. The average output of these two units in recent years has only reached 2,000 - 3,000 tons/year.

Some other frozen processing facilities such as Phuong Mai, Kim Lien, Hai An (which have applied the HACCP quality management program)... have also invested in facilities, machinery, and processing equipment such as freezers, cold storage, transportation vehicles... However, the technology that enterprises in the province own is very outdated or the technology has been transferred for many generations, is manual and simple. The products stop at the crude level. According to data from the Nghe An Rural Development Department, in the first 6 months of 2014, the total industrial processing output (aquatic products) reached 14,500 tons/26,400 tons of various products. The export processing value only reached 12/22 million USD. Thus, the export processing value is still modest compared to the output of exploitation and aquaculture of aquatic and marine products of the province.

Currently, in the province, no enterprise has built a research and testing room to innovate, upgrade technology, and upgrade food safety and quality inspection processes. This limits the ability to diversify products and the competitiveness of enterprises. On the other hand, enterprises have not focused on investing in market research and finding partners, so there are very few orders. In addition, the source of aquatic products in the province is still fragmented, not enough to meet large orders due to the influence of the seasonal nature and the small number of large ships and boats fishing offshore, etc. Mr. Duong Van Hung - Head of the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management said: Every year, the department takes hundreds of aquatic product samples (fish, shrimp exploited and farmed) for analysis, but has not detected any banned substances in aquatic and seafood products. If businesses boldly invest synchronously and modernly, participate in trade promotion and exploit the market well, then Nghe An's aquatic and seafood products will still meet export standards to demanding markets such as the EU, the US, etc.

It can be seen that the aquatic and seafood industry has not yet fully exploited its potential, bringing great economic value through export. Therefore, in the coming time, to promote the aquatic and seafood processing and export sector to develop commensurate with its potential, it is necessary to have synchronous solutions from the stages of farming, exploiting raw materials, processing and food hygiene and safety, market search, and connection between managers, businesses, and aquatic and seafood farmers and fishermen.

Article and photos:Quynh Lan