Vietnam’s seafood exports last year amounted to US$7.12 billion, US$3.2 billion of it coming from shrimp. Given that success, enterprises in the shrimp sector are pinning high hopes that shrimp will fetch US$10 billion in annual export revenue in the future.
Nguyen Hoang Anh, general director of Nam Mien Trung Aquaculture Investment Co Ltd in the south-central province of Binh Thuan, said Vietnam has favorable conditions for raising shrimp and expanding its shrimp farming acreage to two million hectares, three times higher than currently.
Le Van Quang, chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation in Ca Mau Province, said he believed that the nation’s shrimp exports could grow strongly in the coming time by increasing farming productivity.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the tiger prawn farming area in the Mekong Delta last year reached 569,500 hectares, with output amounting to 251,000 tons, or 440kg per hectare.
Minh Phu Company will cooperate with some provinces to breed tiger prawns using advanced extensive farming techniques so as to increase productivity to one ton per hectare, double the current figure, Quang said.
No matter how volatile shrimp prices are, around 20% of local consumers will stick with tiger prawns, and the remainder with white-legged shrimp.
If the price of tiger prawns is US$1-2 a kilo higher than that of white-legged shrimp, consumers could switch to buying tiger prawns, contributing to a pickup in the export of this type of shrimp.
Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep), told the Daily that shrimp consumption in the world could remain flat, so it would be difficult for the country to obtained higher export revenue.
In addition, the Vietnamese shrimp sector is facing strong competition with other exporting countries including Thailand, Indonesia, and India, Hoe added.