At the beginning of the year, farmers released shrimp due to theforecast that the weather would not be too cold. They have expected to earlyharvest raw shrimp. However, diseases and the quality of shrimp seeds haveaffected farming results.
According to Ho Quoc Luc, former chairman of the VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and also chairman of theSao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company (FIMEX), there are three reasons for theshortage of raw shrimp, including disease, quality of shrimp varieties andwater source.
By the end of this year, the supply of raw shrimp will not beabundant, and prices will remain high, said Luc. This will encourage farmerswith the right financial conditions to expand production.
Although output has not increased or increased slightly while theworld market prices have not increased, the shrimp export revenue is estimatedto surge by 10% this year.
The higher export value is due to promoting deep-processedproducts with higher selling price at shrimp processing enterprises. The higherselling price is partly due to a surge in transport costs, said Luc.
Le Hang, deputy director of the VASEP.PRO Centre, said that thescarcity of raw materials for shrimp and seafood would continue to affect theexport results in the third quarter.
After a substantial increase of 39-62% in the first four months ofthis year, seafood exports showed signs of cooling from May with a growth rateof 34%. In June, it only increased by 18%.
In July, the growth rate of seafood exports continued to slow downto 14% on the year, earning 970 million USD. It was down 4% compared to June2022, according to Hang.
In the first seven months, shrimp exports reached 2.65 billion USD,up 22% over the same period last year.
Domestic shrimp production and world shrimp demand are forecast tonot be positive in the second half of the year.
The shrimp supply from producing countries increased sharply inthe first half of this year. The import volume of major markets, such as the USand EU, also increased in the first half, leading to an increase ininventories. Therefore, there was a slowdown in demand in the second half.
Meanwhile, domestic shrimp production is facing difficulties dueto weather and high costs, so raw shrimp will be in short supply in the year'ssecond half.
The export of pangasius, another key item, surged by 56% to 197million USD in July.
The total pangasius exports in the first seven months of this yearreached 1.6 billion USD, up 79%.
When inflation is too high in many countries and export pricestend to increase, consumers in those countries will tighten their spending andswitch to affordable products such as frozen pangasius fillets, fish cakes, andother frozen products, Hang said.
Seafood export to the US in the first seven months reached nearly 1.5billion USD, up 31% over the same period last year, Hang said.
Shipments to the EU still maintained a growth rate of 28% in Julyand 39% in the first seven months, with a total value of 829 million USD,compared to the same period in 2021.
Meanwhile, seafood export value to China in the first seven monthsgrew by 71% to 1 billion USD./.