Shrimp exports likely to reach $2.5 billion target

Vietnam has controlled shrimp disease since the beginning of the year, so there are many opportunities to export shrimp.

Since the beginning of 2013, the country's general export situation has encountered many difficulties, but shrimp products have had impressive breakthroughs, with export turnover reaching 2 billion USD.

In particular, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) recognized that Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises do not dump, which is considered an advantage for Vietnamese enterprises to accelerate exports in the remaining months, exceeding the target of 2.3 billion USD in shrimp export turnover this year.

VOV reporter interviewed Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) about this issue.

Reporter: Could you please tell us about the shrimp export situation in recent times as well as your assessment of the possibility of completing the target set for 2013?

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe:Our country's seafood exports in the past 9 months reached about 4.6 billion USD. Of which, shrimp exports are likely to reach approximately 2 billion USD.

Thus, it can be estimated that in 2013, shrimp export turnover could reach 2.5 billion USD. This can be said to be quite a surprising number, because at the beginning of the year, businesses only set the shrimp export target equal to last year's export level, which was 2.3 billion USD.

However, due to changes in the market, especially some major shrimp exporting countries have shown signs of decline in output due to disease. Vietnam has controlled shrimp disease since the beginning of the year, so there are many opportunities to export shrimp this year.

PV: Regarding Vietnam's current shrimp export markets, what do you think should be recommended to export businesses?

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe:Vietnam's current largest shrimp export markets are Japan. These are regular markets for Vietnamese shrimp. In recent years, the demand for Vietnamese shrimp from these markets has increased significantly due to a decrease in supply from other countries.

However, exporters need to be careful and stay updated. Because the Thai shrimp industry may recover supply sooner than expected.

Previously, the Thai shrimp industry predicted a 50% decrease in production, but now they have announced that raw material sources have only decreased by about 30%, so the recovery of shrimp farming is more favorable, and can also increase supply. Therefore, businesses are very careful in the negotiation process to ensure delivery.

PV: While businesses are trying to boost export production, there is information that farmers are hoarding goods waiting for prices. How does this affect signed orders?

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe:In the past 2-3 months, a phenomenon has emerged in the shrimp industry, which is the massive purchase of shrimp to export to China in the form of fresh raw materials. This also creates problems for export processing enterprises, because farmers have the mentality of hoarding goods waiting to sell to traders to export to China at higher prices.

However, according to general assessment, after a period of time, the amount of goods exported to China has decreased sharply, possibly due to the season and the sharp decrease in demand in China.

In this situation, if farmers continue to hoard their goods waiting for prices, it will be difficult for businesses that have raw shrimp sources for processing and exporting. We think that farmers have made the right assessment, when the season comes, they should harvest and supply to businesses for processing and exporting.

According to the latest information, next year, according to the opinion of the Directorate of Fisheries, the time to raise white-leg shrimp can be put into practice earlier than the current process, to ensure prevention of white-leg shrimp disease, so in the short term there may be a shortage of raw materials and then the supply will be better.

PV: Yes. Thank you!./.

According to (VOV) -LC