Seafood factory in Mekong Delta rushes back to work

After the provinces eased the distancing, businesses in Mekong Delta quickly restored production, in which seafood factories are promoting shrimp consumption for farmers.

On the morning of September 28, three factories in the seafood processing chain of Kim Anh Co., Ltd. (Soc Trang) welcomed nearly 1,000 workers to work. This number reached nearly 100% compared to the time before the Covid-19 epidemic.

The representative of the enterprise with 3 factories located in Dai Ngai commune (Long Phu district), ward 7 (Soc Trang city) and An Nghiep industrial park (Chau Thanh district) said that the districts and towns in Soc Trang province are the same. In green areas, the Covid-19 checkpoints have created good conditions for vehicles to transport and pick up workers.

Shrimps are consumed strongly

Talking to  Zing, Mr. Tran Van Tuan, Director of Khanh Sung Co., Ltd (My Xuyen, Soc Trang), said that after stopping the application of "3 on-site" production, workers in green communes and wards have returned company is increasing day by day. Currently, Khanh Sung has restored production about 70%, shrimp consumption is nearly 40 tons per day.

Harvesting shrimp in Soc Trang. Photo:  Nhat Tan

According to Mr. Tuan, thanks to the locality easing the distance, creating conditions for businesses to transfer goods smoothly, it is easy to buy shrimp for farmers. Enterprises are boosting production to promptly deliver goods to partners and foreign markets still consume Vietnamese shrimp very strongly.

In Bac Lieu, districts, towns and Bac Lieu city have eased the distance according to Directives 15 and 19. Mr. Tran Tuan Khanh, Director of Trang Khanh Import-Export and Processing Company Limited (Bac Lieu City) said: many families still do not allow their children to work again to prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this business still attracts about 70% of workers back to the factory.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Trang Khang consumed about 60 tons of shrimp per day. After a few days of restoring production to the new normal, the business consumed nearly 40 tons of raw materials per day.

On the afternoon of September 28, white-leg shrimp of 20 pieces per kilogram in Mekong Delta were purchased by businesses for 230,000 VND/kg, 30 for 150,000 VND, 100 for 83,000 VND/kg...

According to Mr. Do Ngoc Tai, General Director of Tai Kim Anh Seafood Processing Company (An Nghiep Industrial Park, Soc Trang), the current price of 20 white-leg shrimp is higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. The remaining large sizes of white-leg shrimp also increased rapidly after Mekong Delta provinces loosened the distance, so farmers were guaranteed a profit.

“The current shrimp prices, farmers do not lose. Shrimp prices were low only during the outbreak, now they have increased again because workers go to work, factories promote buying shrimp for production, processing and export, "said Mr. Tai.

Maintain the production chain

In addition to Tai Kim Anh Seafood Processing Company, Mr. Tai also leads Ngoc Tri Seafood Processing Company in Gia Rai town, Bac Lieu. The enterprises in Mr. Tai's production chain have had about 85% of workers return to work.

This businessman said that in the past few days, many people in Mekong delta have returned to Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces. The flow of people from epidemic areas driving motorbikes back to their hometowns makes businesses and localities worried because the capacity of isolation areas is limited.

However, Mr. Tai said that people from Ho Chi Minh City returning to their hometowns had passed many checkpoints in the provinces, so they could basically be counted by the functional forces. When returning home, these people were led by the police into isolation areas and had a community Covid-19 monitoring team, so the risk of disease spread was low.

“The most worried are the provinces with F0 in the community, there is a risk of spreading through the bordering areas. In which, the locality that also appears F0 in Soc Trang is Lai Hoa of Vinh Chau bordering Bac Lieu and Hung Phu of My Tu, just one river from Long My of Hau Giang. Vinh Chau has Lai Hoa commune bordering Bac Lieu, Ke Sach bordering Hau Giang. The second note is a long-distance truck driver,” shared Mr. Tai.

The purchase price of shrimp has increased sharply after export processing companies resumed operations. Photo:  Nhat Tan

Mr. Tai's concerns are also of the same opinion as that of the Head of the Management Board of Soc Trang Industrial Parks Nguyen Thanh Trong. However, with the good control of the flow of people from provinces and cities to their hometown and the proactive prevention and control of epidemics by businesses, the production chain of the spearhead seafood industry in Soc Trang has been maintained.

According to Mr. Trong, before the Covid-19 pandemic, An Nghiep industrial park had over 20,000 workers. Currently, about 14,000-15,000 workers have returned to work. Of which, about 60% received a dose of Covid-19 vaccine, 10% completed the second dose.

In order to be safe against the Covid-19 pandemic, new workers who have just returned to the enterprise are tested 3 consecutive times, 3 days apart each time. After this time, workers in An Nghiep industrial park are periodically tested for nCoV weekly with the number of 20% or more.

“At the peak of the pandemic, we worried about breaking the production chain. However, businesses in Soc Trang have overcome the difficulties and now have a lot of orders. While many industrial parks in the provinces and cities have not yet opened, customers have poured into Soc Trang businesses. Orders in 2022 will be better than this year," said Mr. Trong.

Source: zingnews.vn, SEABINA GROUP's translation