Workers process shrimp for export (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – If the shrimp
industry does not change it will be unable to export and will also need to be
rescued like its pork, dragon fruit and watermelon counterparts, heard a recent seminar
on establishing a disease-free shrimp production chain for export in Ho
Chi Minh City.
Pham Van Dong, head of the Department of
Animal Health, said earnings from shrimp exports have increased significantly
in recent years, but the industry faces many challenges in breeding due to the
impact of climate changes and diseases.
Companies have also faced difficulties in
exports due to the increasingly strict technical barriers related to diseases
and antibiotic residues put up by importing countries, he said.
Recently six markets — Australia, the
Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, and Mexico — have said they
would buy only products with disease-free certification in accordance with
World Organisation for Animal Health regulations or recognised as free of
diseases by their authorised agencies.
These markets account for 25 percent of the
country’s total shrimp exports, or equivalent to 800 million USD a year.
[Australia agrees to re-import processed shrimps from Vietnam]
Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam
Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said shrimp processors
and exporters are deeply worried about the disease-free certification
requirement.
It is hard for them to meet the demand in a
short time, he said.
With the small average scale of production,
if the country does not have comprehensive national measures, exporters would
face difficulties in exporting in future.
Dang Quoc Tuan, deputy general director of Vietnam-Australia
Seafood Corporation (Viet-Uc Seafood), said the survival rate of shrimp in Vietnam
is very low at just 25-30 percent due to the low professional level of farmers.
Vietnamese shrimp mainly competes on price, and the new regulations mean they
cannot be exported whatever their price, he said.
The industry would therefore be forced to
change, he said.
Nguyen Van Long, head of the department’s
seafood veterinary division, said the department has a programme to enable
firms to meet regulations set by importing countries since 2014, but
enterprises remain unmindful of this.
Only Viet-Uc Seafood and Huy Long An
Company have participated in the programme to develop disease-free shrimp breeding
facilities.
Viet-Uc Seafood has basically met the
criteria to be recognised by animal health department.
Farmers and businesses in the country are
generally not aware of the importance of building disease-free shrimp breeding
facilities.
But if the industry persists with its
current production methods, it would need to be rescued sooner rather than
later.-VNA