Vietnam was estimated to have produced 795,500 metric tons (MT) of seafood in May, up 1.7 percent year-on-year, with increases seen in both farmed and wild-catch production, according to newly-published data from the country's General Statistics V
Vietnam's total output from aquaculture in the month was estimated at 432,600 MT, up 2.7 percent year-on-year. An estimated 283,700 MT of that total was comprised of fish – a 2.2 percent increase from a year earlier – and an estimated 76,700 MT came courtesy of shrimp, up by 6.4 percent year-on-year.
Farming activities of pangasius continued to face difficulties, with processors reducing purchases of material and farmers incurring losses of up to VND 4,000 (USD 0.17, EUR 0.15) for every kilogram of fish sold, GSO said.
Vietnam produced an estimated 124,000 MT of pangasius in the month, down 3.6 percent year-on-year, with production mainly coming from the provinces of An Giang (32,300 MT, 6.1 percent lower year-on-year), Can Tho (16,600 MT, down 4.9 percent), and Ben Tre (11,800 MT, down 32.4 percent from the same month last year).
Amid a decline in demand from other markets, Vietnam is looking to boost sales of pangasius domestically. Addressing a conference in early May, Agriculture Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong suggested that the producers should adjust their approach to focus more on sales in the domestic market – made up of nearly 100 million people – according to a statement from the ministry.
Domestic producers and distributors of pangasius will meet during a seafood trade fair in Hanoi from 9 to 12 June to discuss measures to increase consumption of the fish in the domestic market, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said.
To sustainably develop the sector, provinces in the Mekong Delta should not expand farming areas, while strictly implementing the country’s three-tier cooperation plan for production of high-quality pangasius breeds, Minister Cuong said.
The output of whitleg shrimp, meanwhile, saw an increase of 11 percent to an estimated 46,600 MT in May, as farmers delayed harvesting to May due to low demand for material from processors in previous months. Production of giant tiger shrimp in May saw a drop of 2.3 percent to estimated 25,600 MT in the month.
GSO said drought and salt intrusion in the Mekong Delta, which is home to seafood production in Vietnam, hit farming activities of shrimp and other species hard in the first five months of the year. These factors have resulted in lower farming area and are likely to affect production in a few months.
Like in April, low fuel prices and abundant stocks in May resulted in productive fishing during the month. However, local fishermen did not utilize all their capacity to fish due to lower demand for their products, according to the GSO. Vietnam’s wild-catch fisheries output rose slightly by 0.6 percent year-on-year to an estimated 364,900 MT in May.
In the first five months of 2020, Vietnam produced an estimated 3.04 million MT of seafood, up 2.2 percent from last year’s period, comprising estimated 1.54 million MT from farming, rising 6.8 percent year-on-year, and estimated 1.5 million MT of wild-catch output, 2.2 percent lower year-on-year.
Photo courtesy of abdul aziz bin yunos/Shutterstock
