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Seafood stocks slide on global market turmoil
Minh Phu Seafood Joint-Stock Co. led declines among fishery stocks on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as the global financial crisis cuts orders from the US, Europe, Japan and Russia.
Minh Phu, Vietnam's second-largest listed seafood company and based in the Mekong delta province of Ca Mau, plunged by the 5 percent daily limit, falling for a fifth straight day. Nam Viet Corp., the country’s largest catfish exporter and the worst-performing stock this quarter on the HCMC exchange, fell 0.4 percent.
Seafood sales to Vietnam's largest overseas markets have slumped this month as the global credit crunch forces employers to cut payrolls. The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the US, Japan and European economies will all contract next year in their first simultaneous recession since the Second World War.
“Foreign clients are having credit problems back in their home countries; so many have cut orders,” said Nguyen Huu Dung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors. At the same time, local fisheries processors face higher production costs and a cash shortage because of higher interest rates, he said.
Seafood is Vietnam's third-largest export by value after petroleum products and textiles, according to the Hanoi-based General Statistics Office. The country has exported US$3.8 billion worth up to the end of October.
Flood destruction
Heavy rains and floods at the end of last month and early this month destroyed more than 27,000 hectares (66,700 acres) of fish farms in the northern and central regions, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a statement posted on its website.
Minh Phu Thursday plunged 5 percent to close at VND11,400. Nam Viet, based in the Mekong delta province of An Giang, fell 0.43 percent to close at VND23,000, ending two days of gains.
An Giang Fisheries Import & Export Joint-Stock Co., based in the same province, slumped to its lowest level since August 2003, falling 4.6 percent to close at VND16,500 on Vietnam's major exchange. Cuu Long Fish Joint-Stock Co., also in An Giang, dropped to the lowest since July 24, sliding 4.9 percent to VND29,400.
Bloomberg
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