Weekly summary of seafood news from Vietnam (March 23, 2020 – March 29, 2020)

Aquaculture

According to authorities of provinces in the Mekong Delta region, the price of raw shrimp has dropped sharply over the past few days, making many shrimp farmers concerned.

Specifically, whiteleg shrimp type 100 shrimp/kg dropped to only VND65,000-70,000/kilogram, about VND20,000-25,000 lower than the same period last year and lower than the production cost from VND10,000-15,000/kilogram. Black tiger shrimp type 40 shrimp/kilogram costs only VND130,000 - 140,000/kilogram, which is a low price.

The reason for the sharp decline in raw shrimp prices, explained by seafood exporters in the Mekong Delta, is due to the impact of the Covid-19 disease, which caused the demand of many shrimp import markets in the world to drop sharply. Since the disease occurred, export orders have also decreased, on average of 30-50%.

Along with the price decline, many shrimp farmers in the Mekong Delta are facing difficulties when adverse weather makes shrimp sick and die. Some farmers said that their shrimp die due to sudden changes in weather as temperature during daytime is too hot and during nighttime is too cold. At the same time, due to early high salinity levels, farming pond environment fluctuates and causes damages to shrimp crop.

Processing, Import and Export

According to a survey by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, especially in the first two weeks of March 2020, production, business and export activities of fishery businesses are severely affected. Up to this point, most businesses have experienced a decrease in seafood export orders due to cancellations, delays, or lack of raw materials.

According to some Vietnamese exporters, in January 2020, almost all Tra fish (Pangasius) export activities to the largest market in China were interrupted or stopped. However, since March, the negative ​​impact of Covid-19 to seafood export has begun to spread to Europe. In some European countries, customers have suspended all seafood-import transactions as restaurants and hotels have been closed to prevent the pandemic. Many new, large orders have not been re-signed.

35-50% of shrimp export orders to the US and EU have been delayed or canceled. Inventories in storage for both export and import are large. Some cold storage is full; some do not have enough capacity to store more frozen seafood. Even when many importing countries and suppliers are able to reduce their prices by 25-30%, they cannot stimulate demand.

Source: collected by Seabina Co.,Ltd