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Seafood imports keep rising after local shortages
Hai Phong city, one of the key seafood producers in the north, has had to import seafood because of a shortage of locally caught or farmed fish and prawns.
The Hai Phong Agriculture and Rural Development Department said Hai Phong imported more than 5,000 tonnes of seafood in the first half of this year for processing and for local consumption.
Dao Ba Dien, head of the department’s Seafood Economic and Technical Division said that seafood output for export processing was three quarters of the output from the same period last year.
Vu Van Cu, head of Nam Trieu fishing group in Thuy Nguyen District said, so far, the group had caught 7,000 tonnes of fish for export processing, or 60 per cent of its planned target.
The shortage has also slowed down many other seafood processors in the city. "The Ha Long Export Seafood Processing Joint Stock Company has, so far this year, imported 2,500 tonnes of seafood material from countries and terristories such as Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the US and Peru," said Nguyen Huu Mien, a company director.
Mien said the company must import extensively because local fisheries were becoming exhausted and petrol was too dear. Meanwhile, demand for domestic consumption and export is increasing, he said.
Mien suggested that the State should support development of fishing fleets and protect natural fishing sources.
He said, seafood processors could not expand because large investments were needed for development. And raising aquatic products was difficult because of the severity of the northern winter.
Nguyen Nhu Van, general director of Hai Phong Export Seafood Processing Company, said the price of seafood material had increased by 20-30 per cent this year compared with the end of 2007.
So far, the company has achieved US$2 million or 22 per cent of its target export value. It now plans to import fish from South Africa to try and reach its goal.
Other seafood processors, including Minh Chau Ltd Company and Viet Truong Ltd Company, have imported 30-40 containers of seafood material from the south and other regional countries, the department said.
Fisheries experts said many fishermen had made limited fishing trips because of the high price of petrol.
Viet Nam now imports seafood from 40 countries and territories with imports, valued at $90-100 million a year. The main suppliers include India, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and ASEAN countries.
The sector expects that Viet Nam will need to increase imports of seafood by 8-10 per cent a year at a cost of $190 million a year.
VNS
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