Vietnam’s shrimp producer Fimex (Sao Ta) boosted its shrimp production and export value in the first six months of 2021, it said in an update.
The company produced 9,788 metric tons (MT) of processed shrimp over January to June, an increase of 27.8 percent year-on-year.
Fimex already sold 8,883 MT of shrimp in the period, surging 27.9 percent from a year ago.
Apart from shrimp, the company also produced 584 MT of agriculture products in the first half of 2021, down 43 percent year-on-year, mainly due to lower demand during lockdowns in its export markets, including Japan.
Its accumulated export value in the period was at USD 99 million (EUR 83.6 million), up 29 percent from last year. Fimex said its export-value growth is much higher than the average 15 percent of other shrimp companies in Vietnam.
According to the company, the current crop will finish in the second half of this month, with the new crop beginning right after that.
Fimex’s chairman Ho Quoc Luc said in a statement that the shrimp sector had to deal with numerous obstacles in the first six months, including the rising prices of input materials and skyrocketing freight rates.
The COVID-19 outbreak remains a threat to the operation of the sector as the vaccinations in Vietnam are still low, Luc said.
Binh Dien wholesale market, the major destination for seafood and other agriculture products from Mekong Delta to Vietnam’s business hub Ho Chi Minh City, was closed from 6 July after 56 people at the market tested positive for the coronavirus. The market provides about 70 percent of seafood, food, and other agriculture products for the city, local media reported.
Vietnam for the first time had its new cases surpass 1,000 per day on 5 July, up from more than 200 new cases per day a month ago, according to government data. Notably, infections have risen rapidly in the Mekong Delta where the majority of the country’s seafood processing plants is located.
Photo courtesy of Fimex
