Sharing in the season of Covid-19

Source: Soc Trang Newspaper, July 25, 2021

Updated date: July 26, 2021

Although knowing that it will be very difficult, production will not be profitable when implementing "3TC - 3 on site" due to increased production costs and reduced capacity, shrimp enterprises in Soc Trang still strive to maintain production not only to show the spirit of sharing and playing a role in the shrimp value chain, but also as a measure to ensure the existence and sustainability of the business in this difficult period.

Right from the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic, scattered in a number of provinces in the Mekong Delta region, shrimp businesses in Soc Trang have prepared for themselves production options, even in social distancing conditions. However, when embarking on the implementation of the "3TC" option in the spirit of Directive No. 16 of the Prime Minister at enterprises, businesses still face many difficulties, especially in terms of labor.

Mr. Ho Quoc Luc - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company shared: "In order to keep employees working under the motto "3TC", the company has supported 3 meals/day, places to eat, sleep, and a number of other policies, but only about 1,400 employees stay to work, which is only about 40% of the normal day. The difficulty when implementing "3 places" is that businesses do not have enough places to eat and sleep for workers because when building the factory, there is no accommodation inside.

The sharing of the business has helped farmers feel more secure in the care and management of farmed shrimp. Photo: TICH CHU

Not only Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company but also most shrimp businesses in Soc Trang have to struggle to keep employees to work during the 14-day social distancing. Mr. Vo Van Phuc - General Director of Vietnam Clean Seafood Joint Stock Company (Vinacleanfood) said: "Many workers are not eligible to stay and work, such as having small children, elderly parents, fear of the epidemic. … so despite trying very hard to persuade and treat, the company only has about 30% of employees who accept to stay and work under "3TC". Or like Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company (Stapimex) has to rent accommodation for workers to perform "3TC".

Talking about the difficulty of implementing "3TC", according to Mr. Phuc, first of all, it must be said that production costs will increase quite a lot due to reduced production capacity while the conditions of depreciation and bank interest are not did not decrease, while the cost of workers' accommodation and compensation policies increased. On the other hand, some products have to be frozen and cannot be directly produced, which also increases production costs quite a lot. Mr. Phuc added: "Production at the present time is not profitable, but businesses still accept to do it to solve the amount of shrimp of farmers, work for employees, keep customers so they don't leave to another country”.

According to Mr. Luc, the purpose of maintaining "3TC" production is that enterprises want to share difficulties with farmers and workers and ensure the supply of a certain amount of shrimp under the contract to help reduce difficulties for farmers. partners, so that all will stick together more later. Therefore, even though it is known that it will be difficult to implement "3TC", businesses still have to make efforts not only to show the spirit of sharing and joint roles in the shrimp value chain, but also as a measure to ensure safety. ensure the survival and sustainability of the business in this difficult period. According to businesses, if the business stops operating now or pushes the price to buy shrimp too low, farmers will stop stocking. At that time, enterprises will have a serious shortage of raw materials at the peak of production in the last months of the year, leading to competition, pushing up prices.

Due to the sharp decrease in the number of workers, the amount of shrimp purchased per day also decreased accordingly. At Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company, where there are 4 processing factories, the average shrimp output purchased from July 19 to now is only about 25 tons/day, which is only about 1/4 - 1/3 of normal. At Vinacleanfood, because there are only about 30% of workers left, according to Mr. Phuc, the amount of shrimp purchased must also decrease accordingly. Not only businesses, shrimp purchasing agents also have a shortage of labor, so the price of shrimp in the early days of social distancing also dropped slightly compared to before. Therefore, businesses recommend, for shrimp farmers in the epidemic area, if there is a pond that has to be harvested but the consumption is difficult, they should report it to the local government, or the functional industry for early support.

The reduction of shrimp purchase price when implementing Directive No. 16 is almost mandatory for shrimp processing enterprises in Soc Trang because when implementing "3TC" production, the cost increases a lot. However, according to the forecast, shrimp output will not be much in the near future, so shrimp prices will surely increase when the application period of Directive No. 16 of the Prime Minister expires. Meanwhile, changes in weather, environment, diseases... from the beginning of the crop to now have been supportive of farmers, so most of the stocked area has grown very well, shrimps grow fast, reaching large sizes, most are the models of raising floating round ponds or lined ponds in 2-3 stages. Therefore, according to businesses and industries, there are still great opportunities for both farmers and businesses if the epidemic is well controlled because the world demand is increasing, while the supply of shrimp is small.

Soc Trang as well as other shrimp farming provinces in the Mekong Delta, which are entering the harvest period, are immediately facing the social distancing period, so the price of shrimp has decreased somewhat, but the degree of reduction also depends on each business. Mr. Phuc analyzed: "For businesses with conditions that they both buy to serve production and to reserve, the price is still reduced but not deep, but in general, the current low shrimp price is mainly due to the enterprises do not have enough labor force. Therefore, once the application period of Directive 16 of the Prime Minister expires, enterprises have enough employees, the demand for raw shrimp will increase again and the price will increase accordingly.

TICH CHU