Shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta: Labor shortage and scarcity of goods

Shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta: Labor shortage and scarcity of goods

In order to take advantage of opportunities in the remaining months of 2021, shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta (Mekong Delta) quickly restored and accelerated production.

Most shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta are facing a shortage of raw material shrimp due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. 

However, despite the careful preparation, the day of returning to the "race track" to complete the export sales target still faced many difficulties and obstacles.

Labor shortage and vaccines 

Since the beginning of October until now, although the Covid-19 epidemic in the Mekong Delta has been gradually controlled, there are still some new outbreaks appearing and spreading in the community, forcing some localities to tighten the movement of people, causing labor shortages for businesses. According to Mr. Ho Quoc Luc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company (Sao Ta Company), after Soc Trang province discovered a Covid-19 outbreak in a shrimp processing facility, workers in different locations with F0 cases could not travel as before, so they had to quit jobs. From October 5, the number of employees of Sao Ta Company decreased by about 400 people. Mr. Vo Van Phuc, General Director of Vietnam Clean Seafood Joint Stock Company (Vinacleanfood), shared: "In the early days of October, shrimp harvested quite a lot, but Vinacleanfood could not buy much shrimp because there were nearly 500 workers can't go to work".

The survey shows that currently, the number of employees in shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta is only 60-80% on average compared to the time before the Covid-19 outbreak. The most worrying thing of businesses is that the number of employees who have been vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine has not reached the desired rate. “The number of employees of the company is only 60-70% compared to normal times, and of these only about 40% have received two vaccines, the rest have not received any jabs. In order to ensure the prevention and control of the epidemic, the company is forced to do very carefully the stages of control and testing, which increases the cost," Phuc said.

The "war" of raw material shrimp is present

The worry about the lack of safety for the workforce has not passed, the worry about the shortage of raw shrimp has gradually increased with the recovery of businesses and the end of the year is approaching. Mr. Vo Van Son, Deputy General Director of Ca Mau Seafood Processing and Import-Export Joint Stock Company (Camimex), said: "What we are mostly worried now is that the amount of raw shrimp is not much due to social distancing, shrimp prices are low, farmers make a loss, so most of them don't stock. With this situation, the price of raw shrimp will surely increase sharply as businesses increase purchasing to ensure sufficient quantity delivered according to the contract signed with the partner".

Although the shortage of raw material shrimp has been forecasted by enterprises in advance and has been proactive in purchasing and stockpiling, in general, it still cannot meet the processing demand from now until the end of the year. Mr. Vo Van Phuc, General Director of Vinacleanfood forecast: "The quantity of raw material shrimp entering the factory of Vinacleanfood only meets about 20% of the demand for processing capacity. Meanwhile, the daily shrimp price increases 2-3 times, each time increase 1-2 thousand VND/kg. From now to the end of the year, raw material shrimp will be seriously lacking, the possibility of a "war" of raw material shrimp is almost certain because every business has a good demand. At that time, shrimp prices will be pushed up, so enterprises with large shrimp stocks and new contracts with high prices will have many advantages to overcome, and vice versa will be more more difficult.

Overcoming difficulties to meet sales target

In Soc Trang province, which has the largest semi-intensive and intensive brackish water shrimp farming area in the country, more than 48,000 hectares have been stocked, and shrimp production has been harvested nearly 140,000 tons. With an unharvested area of ​​more than 10,000 hectares, if the farming situation is as good as expected, businesses in the area will have many advantages. In fact, in the first nine months of 2021, the province's shrimp exports still increase quite well and according to businesses, if the Covid-19 epidemic situation is well controlled, the ability to fulfill the export sales target is possible to be done.

Thanks to the early and remote preparation right after the fourth Covid-19 outbreak (late April 2021), a number of shrimp businesses in the Mekong Delta returned quite quickly and started to accelerate. Mr. Ho Quoc Luc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sao Ta Company affirmed: "Although the amount of shrimp farmed in the Mekong Delta has decreased sharply, thanks to the reserve of shrimp and more than 200 hectares of the company's farmed shrimp that have not been harvested, we are still confident to complete the export sales target in 2021 has been set out.

According to our research, most shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta believe that despite difficulties, this year's export sales will not be lower than last year. However, businesses also admit that, even if they achieve sales, profits are not high due to most stages: raw materials, input materials, labor and costs for Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control, logistics services have increased sharply.

Source: Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance (VSSA)