Shrimp exports forecast to grow 40% in March 2022

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development forecasts turnover seafood export in the second quarter can reach 2 billion USD. The seafood industry has been implementing many solutions to make good use of market demand and increase processing, striving to achieve the set target this year.

As for shrimp products, according to data from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), shrimp export continued to grow by about 40% in March thanks to strong market demand. Shrimp exports for the whole year are expected to reach about 4 billion USD, up 3% compared to last year.

Generally, in the first two months of this year, shrimp exports reached nearly $560 million, up 48% over the same period last year. Notably, Vietnam’s shrimp exports in the first two months of this year grew well in all major markets such as the US, EU, Japan, Korea, China, UK… except Russia due to disruptions. before the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Shrimp exports are forecast to grow by 40% in March 2022. (Illustration image – Photo: Investment Newspaper)

Specifically, in the first two months of this year, shrimp exports to the US reached 117.5 million USD, up 61% over the same period last year. The US market reopened after COVID-19, the demand for seafood imports, including shrimp, continued to increase.

Vietnam is still the fourth largest shrimp supplier in the US market after India, Ecuador and Indonesia. The Chinese market has shown signs of a good growth recovery in the first 2 months of this year with export turnover reaching 39.7 million USD, up 14% over the same period last year.

However, the price of gasoline and oil has increased to a record high in recent years, causing transportation costs to increase, greatly affecting production costs and profits of enterprises.

Shrimp industry takes advantage of breakthrough opportunities in 2022

In addition to the high gasoline prices causing difficulties for businesses, the costs of input materials and international shipping fees continue to increase, increasing product costs and reducing competitiveness compared to rival countries such as India. India, Ecuador, Indonesia…

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict also more or less affected shrimp exports to Russia and Ukraine, although these two markets only account for a very small proportion of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports.

However, the main shrimp import markets of Vietnam such as the US, EU, Japan, etc. are flourishing. Besides difficulties, seafood enterprises have actively taken advantage of opportunities from economic recovery to implement drastic solutions to achieve this year’s goals.

In 2022, shrimp exports are set to grow by about 10% compared to 2021 with a turnover of more than 4 billion USD. (Illustration image – Photo: Dan Tri)

Busy production and urgent delivery of shipments, Thai Minh Long Co., Ltd. said that in 2022, the shrimp market is quite prosperous when the unit soon signs many export orders.

“Currently the company has signed 80% of the full capacity of 2022. We also welcome the opportunity by investing in a factory with deep processing technology”, said Mr. Tran Van Dieu – General Director of Thai Minh Co., Ltd. Long said.

At the farming stage, localities have oriented not to increase the area, promoting the application of high-tech processes to produce clean, high-yield shrimp with good selling price.

Mr. Huynh Ngoc Nha – Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Soc Trang province said: “Application of 2, 3 stage farming processes to increase productivity and quality of shrimp”.

“Deep processing to produce many refined products will increase the value of shrimp products,” said Mr. Vuong Quoc Nam – Vice Chairman of Soc Trang Province People’s Committee.

In 2022, shrimp exports are set to grow by about 10% compared to 2021 with a turnover of more than 4 billion USD. Currently, Vietnam is participating in 16 new generation free trade agreements. This is a golden opportunity, along with the above-mentioned positive preparations, which will create favorable conditions for our country’s shrimp industry to continue to make a breakthrough.

Solutions to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp

The opportunities for the shrimp industry are huge, but recently at the 2022 Shrimp Industry Development Conference held in Soc Trang province, the Directorate of Fisheries also pointed out the current limitations and inadequacies of the industry.

One of which is that the production cost of shrimp in our country is still higher than that of other countries in the region. The reason is that shrimp feed still accounts for a high proportion of the production cost (about 65% of the cost of industrial shrimp farming); the cost of seed is high due to the import of broodstock; The cost of transporting materials has increased.

To help Vietnamese shrimp improve its competitiveness, many solutions need to be implemented in the near future.

Mr. Tran Dinh Luan – Director of the General Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said: “It is necessary to reorganize production into cooperatives and cooperative groups associated with investment material suppliers. input and processing factories, from which the first step will lower the input investment costs to improve the competitiveness of shrimp.In addition, it is necessary to apply technical advances to reduce costs in the production process, limit risks to increase the competitiveness of shrimp”.

Also at the shrimp industry development conference in 2022, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that, in order to achieve the goal of export turnover exceeding the milestone of over $4 billion, specialized agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture and Rural Development and localities need to identify difficulties, exist, and solve challenges in terms of infrastructure, seed and environment… so that the shrimp industry can move towards sustainable development.

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