The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the People’s Committee of Soc Trang Province has just held a conference to “Implement the task of developing the brackish water shrimp industry in 2020”.
By 2020, the brackish shrimp industry will face many challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic not only threatens the lives and health of people around the world, but also affects the entire global economic chain, including Vietnam.
Besides, extreme weather and saline intrusion in the first months of the year also makes shrimp farming face great challenges, along with the occurrence of diseases on shrimp farming, difficulties in consumption markets, etc. However, the Minister Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong also emphasized the opportunities and prospects for the development of the brackish shrimp industry in 2020.
The National Assembly will ratify the EVFTA Agreement in the near future, whereby, taxes on agricultural products including shrimp products will be brought to an extremely favorable level. Currently, markets are in the control phase of COVID-19, but there will be many promising opportunities for Vietnam shrimp industry in the near future..
Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that it is necessary to turn risks into opportunities and strive to thrive in the shrimp industry in the difficult conditions of COVID-19 pandemic but the shrimp industry also believes that it will strive to export more than 3.5 billion USD.
In 2020, the brackish shrimp industry plans to raise 730,000 hectares with an estimated yield of 830,000 tons; Export turnover reached 3.5 billion USD, rising from 2-3% compared to 2019.
To achieve this goal, at the conference, many opinions of representatives of professional units, associations, aquaculture, processing and exporting enterprises participating in the conference said that the State and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as localities with large areas of aquaculture need to take drastic measures to cope with salinization; monitor environmental warnings and prevent epidemics.
In addition, it is necessary to strictly manage input materials, thereby inspecting, evaluating and recognizing establishments that are eligible for producing and rearing aquatic breeds, and at the same time, fully penalize establishments that violate aquatic breed quality and feeds. Besides, it also need to apply advanced farming technology, efficient and sustainable production model, etc. Especially, in the complicated context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to understand the situation of brackish water shrimp export prices, study and develop export markets, etc.
According to the General Department of Fisheries, by 2020, complicated, erratic and extreme weather conditions will be the cause of disease outbreaks for shrimp. Drought, salinization in the first months of the year have prevented shrimp farmers from stocking or have caused shrimp to grow slowly in areas where it is difficult to regulate fresh water.
In addition, the price of imported materials and raw shrimp increased, along with the COVID-19 pandemic affected the life and trade activities, leading to a decline in demand in the first half of 2020. However, there are still positive signs of the shrimp industry. That is when the EVFTA trade agreement comes into effect, it will create expectations for Vietnamese shrimp to export more to the EU market thanks to the strong tax reduction, etc.
By the end of April 2020, the shrimp farming area of coastal localities reached more than 480,000 hectares, equaling nearly 85% compared to the same period in 2019 and reaching 71% compared to the plan in 2020. In particular, black tiger shrimp’s area is more than 457,000 hectares, white shrimp’s is more than 22,000 hectares. It is estimated that the production of brackish shrimp by the end of April 2020 has gained more than 168,000 tons, reaching 21.7% of the plan. While shrimp export of all kinds by the end of the first quarter of this year, reached nearly 600 million USD. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 16,000 hectares of shrimp farming have been damaged, an increase of 3.3 times over the same period last year.
Hong Nhien
Source: CPA