A number of seafood companies in Vietnam are planning to construct new cold-storage facilities in response to a pinch in storage capacity for their products, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
The new cold-storage facilities will enable local processors and exporters to buy more seafood from local farmers and have product on-hand, ready to export when global demand rebounds after the COVID-19 pandemic, VASEP said.
The new storage capacity will help Vietnam's sector in both the short- and long-term, VASEP said. The trade group said there is "an acute shortage of cold-storage facilities in the sector that needs to be remedied as soon as possible."
VASEP is seeking assistance from the Vietnamese government to help pay for the expansion project. In a letter sent to Agriculture Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong on 2 April, VASEP said companies are seeking long-term loans with no interest rates in the first two years and a reduction of interest rates by 50 percent over the following four years. The bank loans will be used to build facilities with a minimum capacity of 5,000 pallets each. VASEP also recommended the government impose half the normal corporate income tax on the new facilities within two years once they open.
The letter was a follow-up of another letter sent 24 March asking the government for financial support for the country’s seafood industry, as it has seen its exports collapse in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
In its previous missive, VASEP said local seafood exporters had seen their orders and exports plunge as the pandemic has spread globally. It asked the government to cut corporate income taxes on seafood companies by half, remove road fees for the sector, and lower electricity prices for seafood processing plants and cold-storage units. It also requested that banks be encouraged to provide preferential loans with low-interest rates, extend debt payment periods, and reduce banking fees.
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