Ca Mau, Vietnam-based shrimp exporter Minh Phu Seafood saw its net profit fall sharply in the first quarter of 2021, the company said in a recent stock exchange filing.
Minh Phu’s net profit between January and March plunged 51.7 percent year-on-year to VND 26.6 billion (USD 1.15 million, EUR 950,000), its lowest quarterly profit in four years.
The company said the drop was primarily due to economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the price of input materials for its business operations rising significantly. High shrimp prices due to a market shortage and skyrocketing shipping costs, which were up more than 30 percent from Q1 2020, caused the plunge in profits, the company said. The company’s fixed costs also rose because the shortage of material led to below-capacity operations at its processing factories.
Minh Phu’s total sales in Q1 reached VND 2.81 trillion (USD 121.9 million, EUR 100 million), down 1.2 percent year-on-year.
The shrimp company said it aims to earn a net profit of VND 1.4 trillion (USD 60.7 million, EUR 50.7 million) this year, an increase of 107.8 percent over VND 673.8 billion (USD 29.2 million, EUR 24.4 million) last year. Its 2021 profit before tax was targeted at VND 1.572 trillion (USD 68.1 million, EUR 56.9 million), an ambitious 106.2 percent increase from its 2020 total of VND 762.4 billion (USD 33 million, EUR 27.6 million).
The company aims to produce 61,500 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in 2021, up 4.4 percent from 58,924 MT last year, the company said in its 2020 annual report. It expects to bring in an estimated USD 638 million (EUR 532.4 million) from exports this year, up 8.5 percent from USD 588.1 million (EUR 490.8 million) in 2020.
Photo courtesy of Minh Phu Seafood
