VIET NAM SHRIMP UPDATE AMID COVID RESURGENCE ON JULY 23, 2021

Friday, 23/07/2021, 16:09

VIET NAM SHRIMP UPDATE AMID COVID RESURGENCE ON JULY 23, 2021

1. Viet Nam Covid update

+ Total infected cases in Viet Nam so far: 78213

+ Yesterday (22/7) was the highest infection peak with 6164 cases for whole Viet Nam. At moment, the pandemic is the most serious in the South including HCM city, Long An, Tien Giang, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and the provinces in Mekong delta, the provinces in the Middle from Da Nang city to Binh Thuan are also facing with Covid but less serious

+ Total infected cases in HCM so far: 48863, yesterday HCM had 4218 cases and it seems the new infection cases still rising in coming days. Well, HCM authority is disinfecting for whole city within 7 days, and also strengthen the directive 16 stricter by restricting people going out and shut down many traditional markets more

+ Infected cases in provinces of Mekong delta where shrimp farming and processing so far:

Tien Giang: 1065
Long An: 1585
Ben Tre: 348
Can Tho: 230
Kien Giang: 109
Tra Vinh: 96
Soc Trang: 78
Hau Giang: 62
Ca Mau: 19
Bac Lieu: 16

2. Shrimp harvesting & operation of factories

After the provinces in Mekong delta applied the directive 16 on July 19, the first days farmers got panic and massively harvested shrimp then causing oversupply suddenly, especially the farmers in Tien Giang, Long An and Ben Tre where have highest Covid cases. The massive harvesting of shrimp made the prices dropped and also caused the difficulty for factories because the factories do not have enough workers for processing now.

At moment, the factories locate in Tien Giang, Long An, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, Can Tho, Kien Giang, Hau Giang just operate partly under 3TC rule (production in place, eating in place, sleeping in places), so their operation capacities just remain about 20 – 30% depending on each factory. Well, these factories just collect shrimp raw materials and bring to their factories for freezing in HOSO first and processing later, partly maintain the production for the important orders. Actually, the implementation of 3TC is very difficult for the factories & enterprises because it causes the huge inconvenience in setting up personal activities like bathing, washing, hygiene, sleeping… and also cause the additional expenses much for the enterprises.

For the factories in Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, thank to low Covid cases then these provinces still allow the factories operate as normal, however; the factories must have 3TC plan in advance if Covid cases rise up seriously.

Viet Nam government, Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD), Fishery Department, VASEP and local authorities of HCM city and Mekong provinces proactively acted in imposing the urgent documentaries, circulars and instructions to guide for farmers do not harvest and sell shrimp massively. Media like TV, social networks, newspapers…often communicate these updates to farmers to get calm and treat their farms the most effective ways. These in-time instructions facilitate harvesting, collecting, transporting, selling & buying shrimp in particular, other agricultural products in general and sub-materials for farming & processing not discontinued. Thank to these efforts so that shrimp industry still stand firmly, farmers got calmer and the shrimp prices stabilized and increased in weekend days.

However; the shrimp industry could stand firmly longer or not is depending on how Covid progress in coming time. As analyzed before, most of shrimp factories haven’t built enough facilities and dormitories for their workforces to stay in place, as if Covid rising and lasts longer then shrimp factories and other enterprises can not bear anymore. They can’t collect shrimp raw material to store more because of overload of cold-storage, and no workers for processing and shipping out will make them sink deeper.

3. Farmgate shrimp prices

+ Black tiger: the buying prices have increased 5000 vnd/kg (~ 0.22 usd/kg) for all sizes, the reason caused increasing is probably less shrimp raw material in market because BT shrimp is mostly extensive farming now, the collecting shrimp from farmers is carried out by small agents but with the current application of Directive 16 then movement of individuals is rather difficult. Furthermore, farmers also hesitate to harvest shrimp and they can keep shrimp in extensive farms longer without any problems (because they do not feed shrimp by industrial feeds)