VASEP wants sustainable shrimp farming and export

VASEP has proposed some solutions to sustainable growth of shrimp farming and export - PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH

Ho Chi Minh City – The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has proposed some solutions to sustainable growth of shrimp farming and export, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reports.

In a proposal to the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, VASEP said that Chinese traders are purchasing increasingly huge volumes of large-size shrimps from India and Ecuador at low prices, instead of Vietnamese shrimp.

Therefore, the association suggests the Government strengthen control on transshipments via Haiphong Port of Indian and Ecuadorian shrimp bound for China in a bid to minimize trade fraud and lure Chinese traders into buying  Vietnamese shrimp as usual.

VASEP also proposes the Government pay special attention to high-level diplomacy with the United States so that the world’s largest economy could quickly lift trade barriers, especially anti-dumping duties on shrimp imports from Vietnam.

This is regarded as a major obstacle to the competitiveness of the local shrimp sector. Consequently, Vietnamese shrimp products make up around 10% of total U.S. shrimp imports.

Local famers should breed shrimp in line with the standards of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). The move is to raise the value of Vietnamese shrimp globally in the long run, according to the association.

The paradox is that small-scale farms which account for a whopping 95% of the total will find it challenging to raise shrimp in accordance with international criteria, due to prohibitively high costs.

As such, cooperation models in shrimp farming, and drastic measures to integrate small lots of land into shrimp farms of international standards are urgently needed. The restructuring of shrimp farming should be then taken into account to ensure better long-term results.

In the short run, however, the association says providers of shrimp breeding stock, feed and finished probiotics should reduce their prices for local farmers.

To do so, the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should offer incentives to these input providers while adopting pricing policies for farmers to ride out of difficulties and stabilize shrimp farming costs in the future.

Data of VASEP shows that Vietnam had exported shrimp worth US$1.02 billion in the year to April, a 13.8% rise from a year earlier. However, raw shrimp suffered sharp declines in prices last month, unnerving farmers.

The association predicts raw shrimp could claw up in price from the middle of this month, as they are in short supply.