A wave of COVID-19 sweeping across India is expected to have a deleterious impact on India’s shrimp-farming sector, according to a senior official from Fimex (Sao Ta), a top shrimp firm in Vietnam.
More shrimp farmers in India are opting to conduct emergency harvests of their current crop over concerns their supply chains could be shut down or disrupted. The mass harvests will result in a higher supply of small-sized shrimp and will put pressure on India’s processing factories, causing purchase prices to fall and discouraging farmers from continuing to farm, Fimex Chairman Ho Quoc Luc said.
“Therefore, their big-size shrimp [supply] will not be as good as before. This is the information that our [Vietnamese] companies are always interested in to plan our own operations,” he said.
India remains Vietnam’s biggest competitor in terms of output and supply of low-priced shrimp, Luc said.
Luc said Fimex’s farming activities are progressing well, with the company expecting to begin harvesting its first crop of 2021 next week.
“At the moment, we can say that our first crop in 2021 is successful, even extremely successful. This success lays a foundation for Fimex to proactively and aggressively implement business plans to achieve more promising results this year,” Luc said.
Fimex produced 1,575 metric tons (MT) of processed shrimp in April, up 31 percent year-on-year. Its accumulated sales value was at USD 16.4 million (EUR 13.6 million), an increase of 46 percent from April 2020.
In Q1 2021, Fimex produced 3,688 MT of processed shrimp in the quarter, 32 percent higher year-on-year. It sold 3,850 MT of processed shrimp, up 35 percent from a year earlier. Its export value between January and March also jumped 35 percent year-on-year to USD 42.3 million (EUR 36.0 million).
The company did not provide a profit figure for the month, but it its production and sales had slowed, due primarily to rising freight costs. Fimex said an increase in shipping costs has been a challenge most seafood exporters.
Fimex, headquartered in Soc Trang, Vietnam, operates its own farms on 270 hectares that supply material to its processing plants in the region, and also buys shrimp from local farmers for processing.
The company said it aims to expand farming by 100 hectares this year, a initiative being spearheaded by its subsidiary Khang An Foods, which operates in aquaculture and processing, and farming and processing of agriculture products.
Photo courtesy of Archer Dec24/Shutterstock
