The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has called for the Vietnamese government to increase its control of the flow of shrimp from India and Ecuador to China via Vietnam.
VASEP’s said the move would improve the competitive advantage of Vietnamese shrimp in the world’s most populous country.
In a statement sent to SeafoodSource, VASEP said China is shifting to buying more shrimp from India and Ecuador, which reportedly are offering bigger sizes and lower prices.
In a letter sent to Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 4 June, VASEP asked the government to closely control the re-export of shrimp from India and Ecuador to China via Vietnam’s Hai Phong Port. Hai Phong is the biggest port in Vietnam’s north, from which shrimp is transported to China.
VASEP hopes the intensified control will help reduce what it calls the “trading frauds” in the re-export activities and convince Chinese buyers to come back to buying Vietnamese shrimp.
VASEP’s made the proposal as shrimp prices fell sharply in May, which is worrying local farmers and is likely to negatively affect Vietnam’s shrimp export target this year, the group said.
In the letter, VASEP also asked the government to increase diplomatic engagements at high levels to persuade the United States to lift trading barriers, especially the high anti-dumping duty on shrimp from Vietnam.
Currently, shrimp from Vietnam accounts for around 10 percent of the U.S.’ total shrimp imports, with Minh Phu Seafood Corp. being the biggest Vietnamese shrimp exporter to the U.S., according to the letter.
In the long run, VASEP said Vietnamese farmers will aim to improve the quality of their operations to meet global shrimp certification standards, including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). At present, more than 95 percent of shrimp volumes in Vietnam is supplied by small farmers who are unable to apply global certification standards, primarily due to high expenses. VASEP is calling for the formation of larger-sized farms that can afford sustainability and best-practice certifications in order to improve the global profile of Vietnamese shrimp.
Vietnam exported shrimp worth USD 1.02 billion (EUR 874 million) between January and April of 2018, up 13.8 percent from the same period in 2017. The export value of shrimp in April alone, however, declined 0.4 percent from a year ago to USD 275 million (EUR 236 million) due to lower prices and higher supply, according to VASEP.
Photo courtesy of VASEP
