AsemconnectVietnam - With high animal feed costs, Vietnam's shrimp industry continues to compete fiercely with Ecuador and India in terms of price and supply.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam's shrimp exports in 2023 reached 3.4 billion USD, down by 22% compared to 2022.
High inflation in main markets causes import demand to decrease. Global shrimp production increased, Ecuador's shrimp production and exports grew explosively, causing oversupply and world shrimp prices to plummet. These are considered the main reasons why shrimp exports declined in 2023.
In the last months of 2023, the US initiated an anti-subsidy investigation on frozen warm water shrimp, including Vietnamese shrimp. The world economy has bottomed out but recovery is slow, the Russia-Ukraine war still drags on, the Israel-Hamas conflict is ongoing, and Red Sea tensions have caused shipping costs to increase.
In Ecuador, the cost of farming was low, the farming area was large and concentrated, and the success rate was high up to over 80%. Vietnam's farmed shrimp had a low success rate, and the production costs were 20 - 35% higher than in Ecuador due to increased food prices, electricity prices and other input costs.
Vietnamese shrimp continues to compete fiercely with Ecuador and India in terms of price and supply. World shrimp prices have not been able to recover quickly due to large inventories. The cost of shrimp feed is big and is rising, and disease outbreaks in farmed shrimp are not under control. These are the challenges faced by Vietnam's shrimp industry in 2024.
Therefore, on the journey of overcoming difficulties, the shrimp industry needs to find ways to improve its competitiveness. One of the solutions identified is to promote the processing of value-added goods and focus more on the farming stage.
The value-added processed shrimp products currently account for 40-45% of the total annual shrimp export value. With increasingly developed processing technology and increasing demand from markets, the development of value-added shrimp products will be increasingly promoted according to the policies of the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
On January 9, 2024, the VASEP Association issued Official Report No. 01/BC-VASEP to the Prime Minister on seafood production and export results in 2023 - opportunities, challenges in 2024 and proposed solutions to consolidate and increase industry competitiveness.
Accordingly, VASEP reported to the Prime Minister about the current situation of high food prices, which has a huge impact on farming activities and raw material costs - a main factor making it very difficult for Vietnam's aquaculture products to compete with other countries (Ecuador, India, etc.). VASEP recommends that the Government and Prime Minister needs to have a policy to control food prices to stabilize raw material costs and increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood.
An important key to farmed shrimp is the issue of breed. In order to ensure quality production raw materials and reduce production costs, VASEP recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development strengthen quality control of farmed shrimp breeds, ensuring no poor quality breeds with disease on the market.
Having some opportunities, but with many challenges, the shrimp industry needs the cooperation of the Government, local authorities, and chain links. The processing industry must constantly approach consumer and market trends to have new products that respond in the most timely manner.
The farming industry needs to organize production on a larger scale to have a scientific and reasonable overall planning foundation for farming areas as well as facilitate investment in equipping scientific and technical achievements to enhance proactiveness, reduce risks, and improve productivity.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn