Vietnam has increased the area dedicated to shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta this year. Aligned with much more favorable weather, this greater focus on production led to a dramatic improvement in the region’s harvests for the first eight months.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the region’s whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) production consisted of a 63,600 hectare farming area for January through August 2017, representing an increase of 15 percent year-on-year. The resultant harvest for the period was estimated at more than 165,000 metric tons (MT), up 34 percent.
The Mekong Delta also harvested 150,000 MT of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), an increase of 8.1 percent year-on-year.
Overall, the country’s total shrimp harvest is expected to increase slightly to 660,000 MT this year.
Shrimp accounts for nearly 50 percent of the country’s total seafood export value. The highest value achieved by the sector to date was just under USD 4 billion (EUR 3.3 billion) in 2014. This year it is forecast to reach USD 3.4 billion (EUR 2.8 billion), which would be 9 percent more than in 2016.
MARD also reported that the cumulative value of Vietnam’s seafood exports for the first eight months increased by 18 percent year-on-year to more than USD 5.1 billion (EUR 4.3 billion).
