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Tra fish losing value in world’s market
Vietnam’s tra fish is now losing value in all the markets of the world. This has been attributed to the low quality of products; however, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) believes it is because Vietnamese companies ask low prices.
Vietnamese companies do harm to Vietnamese companies
Vietnam’s tra fish products are losing value in all the markets in the world with export prices down by 8.59% in the first months of 2008 compared to 2007.
The price decreases have caused big losses for enterprises.
The Spanish Shipowners’ Association has launched a campaign to ‘boycott’ Vietnam’s tra fish and asked its government to release an import ban.
Polish and French markets have also shown similar reactions, which has raised worries about the domino effect and permanent barriers for Vietnam’s tra fish.
The low quality of Vietnam’s products has been cited to explain the fact that the European countries do not want to import tra products. However, VASEP believes that the real reason behind the problem is the overly low prices of Vietnam-made products, while the prices of other fish have been increasing due to the high inflation.
According to VASEP, there are 168 enterprises that export tra fish. However, only 57 of these have tra fish processing workshops, while the other 111 enterprises are trading businesses. The 57 enterprises have exported 245,000 tonnes of tra products so far this year, worth $563mil, making up 93% of total exports of the country, while the other 111 enterprises just account for the other 7%.
The five leading processing companies had the export turnover of $241mil, while the five export companies which do not have processing workshops at the bottom of the list of tra export companies had the export turnover of $17,785 only. The company which had the lowest export turnover exported 0.12 tonnes only, earning $28.
The lowest average export price was the one to Ukraine, at $1.09/kg, while the highest was $4.16/kg (382%).
The problem lies in the fact that Vietnamese companies always scramble to get export contracts with foreign partners. Leaders of some enterprises related that sometimes, foreign partners offer contracts on the Internet at unreasonably low prices. However, some Vietnamese companies still accept the offers. Low prices may lead to problems in quality and spoil the prestige of Vietnamese tra fish’s brand name.
What to do to regain prestige of Vietnam’s tra?
Vietnam’s tra has lost 20.58% of its value in the Middle East, 10.95% in Asia, 10.8% in Eastern Europe, 8.62% in South America, 7.01% in Europe, and 2.8% in Africa. The lowest price decrease was seen with the exports to America.
VASEP’s deputy chairmen Nguyen Huu Dung and Ngo Phuoc Hau said that they could not understand how big enterprises, which make up 93% of total output and exports, could not control export prices, and why the enterprises let the other 111 enterprises dump tra fish products.
VASEP’s chairman Tran Thien Hai has suggested that the 30 leading enterprises, which account for 86% of total exports, join forces to raise export prices and the prices of fish materials in the domestic market.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong also said that Vietnamese enterprises should cooperate with each other in the struggle to restore the prestige of Vietnam’s tra fish.
Hau said: “We go to meetings more than we go selling fish, a meeting of 15 enterprises, and then a meeting of 30 enterprises, and then a meeting of 50 enterprises. It’s time to take action.”
However, it seems that Vietnamese enterprises still do not know the way of cooperation. Currently, there are only two Vietnamese enterprises that export tra products to the US, and the two are competing fiercely with each other.
VNN
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