Soc Trang, Vietnam-based shrimp exporter Fimex (Sao Ta) boosted its sales value in the fourth quarter amid higher production, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company’s sales between October and December stood at VND 1.21 trillion (USD 52.3 million, EUR 43.2 million), rising 26 percent from the same period in 2019. That helped raise its total sales to VND 4.4 trillion (USD 191 million, EUR 157.6 million) in 2020, up 19 year-on-year, Fimex said in a statement.
The company said it produced more than 20,000 metric tons (MT) of processed shrimp last year, 20 percent higher than 2019.
Its net profit in the fourth quarter, however, only rose 3 percent year-on-year to VND 63.6 billion (USD 2.6 million, EUR 2.3 million) while the figure for 2020 declined 2 percent year-on-year to VND 226 billion (USD 9.8 million, EUR 8.0 million).
Fimex attributed the modest net profit to lower selling prices and higher production costs resulting from shrimp diseases.
It was a difficult year for the seafood industry – including shrimp companies – as the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected the food sector. The purchase power of consumers also went down globally, leading to a drop of prices.
Despite the difficulties, Vietnam’s shrimp sector has been able to increase its output and exports thanks to the country’s successful containment of the virus while competitors in other parts of the world were still struggling with the pandemic, Fimex said earlier this month.
On 18 October, the company approved a plan to build a new shrimp processing plant with designed capacity of 15,000 MT per year in Soc Trang Province. Work on the project, which is scheduled to cost between VND 200 billion and VND 250 billion (USD 8.6 million and USD 10.8 million, EUR 7.4 million and EUR 9.3 million), is expected to begin in early 2021. The new plant will mainly serve the company’s European markets.
Photo courtesy of Fimex
