Shrimp farming is more popular in southern Vietnam, but Viet Uc Seafood Corp., one of the country's leading shrimp breeders, is pleased with a decision to open its first high-tech shrimp farm in northern Vietnam.
Since the start of the farm in April, Viet Uc has supplied more than 220 million postlarvae shrimp to farmers in Quang Ninh and other northern provinces, a representative from the company told SeafoodSource this month.
“This is a good start for a new postlarvae supplier, which is only operating at 10 percent capacity,” she said, adding that the total capacity would reach eight billion postlarvae per year when the whole farm in the coastal district of Dam Ha is put into operation. The representative did not give a timeframe for when that is expected.
The postlarvae in Quang Ninh are produced by the company’s broodstock shrimp, which have high rates of growth and survival, according to the company representative. And Viet Uc will work to produce next generation of postlarvae capable of growing well in the cold weather conditions in the northern region, said the representative.
The company announced on 11 November, 2017, that it successfully produced broodstock shrimp after years of research efforts, and it remains the only Vietnamese company that produces shrimp broodstock, with Vietnam’s other shrimp-farming firms importing broodstock from the United States, Singapore, and Thailand. Viet Uc sold more than 16 billion postlarvae last year, accounting for nearly 27 percent of the total supply of around 60 billion postlarvae in Vietnam, the company’s controlling director, Vu Duc Tri, told SeafoodSource in February.
Beside the farm in Quang Ninh, Viet Uc operates eight other hatchery facilities across the country’s southern and central regions.
Photo courtesy of Viet Uc Seafood
