By Son Nghia - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – The target of earning US$6.5 billion in seafood export turnover this year seems unobtainable as seafood firms are facing a lack of materials for production as a result of funding sources being choked off, processors said.
Duong Ngoc Minh, general director of Hung Vuong Corporation, showed his concern over this year’s export target of the seafood industry.
“There are up to 95% of seafood firms borrowing money to buy materials and cover production costs, and if banks continue to tighten credit as at present, this target is hard to achieve,” said Minh.
The volume of exports to major markets such as Europe and the U.S. has showed signs of declining due to economic woes.
Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep), said the export target for tra fish alone was US$2 billion. To achieve it, seafood firms are in need of up to 1.3 million tons of tra fish materials for processing, but in reality the amount of tra fish has also dropped considerably as farmers lack investment capital, he added.
Firms have found it hard to gain access to bank loans because of the remaining outstanding loans being taken out in previous years, and thus banks have suspended new loans for tra fish firms to minimize risks, Hoe explained.
The lack of materials forced the seafood industry to import seafood materials worth US$500 million to produce products for export last year.
The total seafood export volume was over 1.5 million tons last year. Output of white-legged shrimp and tra fish totaled 200,000 tons and 1.3 million tons respectively, helping Vietnam obtain around US$6.12 billion in export revenue with a year-on-year rise of 21%.
The seafood export this year will increase by 6.5% against last year if the turnover target of US$6.5 billion is realized.