Export market has opened its doors widely but Vietnamese seafood processing factories run at moderate level. Deputy General Director of Baseafood Huynh Minh Tuong said that every year, Baseafood needs 20-25,000 tons of materials for processing and domestic sources can usually meet 70 percent of their demand. He told that they have to run pillar to post to see materials.
Baseafood company said that the volume of materials caught from wild cannot increase, and have even decreased. According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, the material shortage may last until the end of 2010, especially shrimp and tra fish. The shortage not only occurs in seafood caught from wild, but with farmed seafood as well. Some people have shifted to farming other kinds of seafood with higher values, thus leading to the lack of shrimp and basa fish.
According to the Ca Mau province’s Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, seafood processing factories in the province are now running at 50 percent of designed capacity due to the lack of shrimp. Many factories have to slashed down production or even ask their workers to stay home. Major seafood processing factories in An Giang province are also running at 50-60 percent of the capacity, since 60 percent of fish ponds have been left idle. According to a Binh Thuan-based seafood processing company, Thai enterprises are the biggest rivals in the region, especially in exporting products like cuttle fish, codfish and tuna.
