Harvesting shrimp in Long An. Photo: Thanh Son.
According to Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, Director of the Aquaculture Research Institute 2, Vietnam's shrimp farming industry has continuously developed in recent years. By 2021, the total area will reach about 742,000 hectares across the country, mainly for black tiger shrimp and vannamei shrimp farming.
The total shrimp production of our country currently reaches about 900,000 tons. In which, production is concentrated mainly in the Mekong River Delta (accounting for 80-82% of the total output of the country. The North Central and Central Coast regions account for 12% of the output. The rest of the shrimp comes from the Delta. Red River and the Southeast.
Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that the development of domestic shrimp farming in recent years has met the growth momentum of processing and exporting. shrimp exports.
However, there are still times and periods when Vietnam's shrimp industry suffers from a shortage of raw shrimp. The shortage is primarily due to the fact that shrimp farming in Vietnam is still mainly owned by households, and there is a lack of large-scale and concentrated farms and farms that can regulate and rebalance demand.
In order to compete in the world shrimp market, Vietnam's shrimp industry is focusing on value-added products for shrimp products, so the demand for large-sized raw shrimp is quite high. But in order to have large shrimp, the farming time must be longer, leading to higher risks. Therefore, there may be a shortage of raw shrimp at some time due to adverse weather or other reasons.
Another important reason is that the domestic shrimp market has grown relatively well in recent years thanks to the development of the economy, so consumers are able to eat more shrimp. The development of domestic tourism has also significantly increased shrimp consumption.
In fact, out of the total output of about 900,000 tons of shrimp, about 600,000 tons are processed for export, the rest is for domestic consumption.
The demand for shrimp in the world is forecasted to continue to grow, with an average increase of about 6% per year. Global shrimp trade this year is forecast at about $32 billion.
Shrimp has just been harvested in Ba Ria - Vung Tau. Photo: Thanh Son.
From the demand for shrimp consumption in the domestic market as well as the world market, Mr. Hoe said that it is necessary to have a strategy to further improve Vietnam's shrimp output, which at more than 1 million tons per year. But the increase in shrimp production is facing significant resistance, which is the motivation of shrimp farmers.
According to Mr. Hoe, shrimp farmers now grasp international market information very quickly thanks to access to many information sources and mainly produce according to the market. If the price is good, and it is guaranteed to be profitable, the farmers will stock up.
However, the fact that farmers only focus on the export market to decide whether to raise or not, sometimes leads to passivity for the whole value chain, from feed producers, seed producers...
Therefore, motivating shrimp farmers to be bolder and more proactive in production is an important factor to increase shrimp production in Vietnam.
To create that momentum, it is necessary to research and assess the needs of the domestic market, and at the same time to have solutions to help the domestic shrimp market develop stronger and more stable.
When seeing that the domestic market is increasingly open and the selling price is also good, farmers will not only look at the export market as before but also rely on domestic demand to be more proactive in shrimp farming.
At that time, the shortage of raw shrimp for processing and export will be minimized at some times of the year. and create a basis for farmers to have a stronger motivation to increase shrimp production, thereby meeting the demand for both domestic and export markets.
Source: Thanh Son - nongnghiep.vn
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