Vietnam to Improve Catfish Quality, Keep Output at 1.2 Mln Tons

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that Vietnam will focus on improving quality of catfish export and keep its output at 1.2 million tons next year, local media reported.

 

Speaking at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City Sept 18, Luong Le Phuong, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said the MARD will focus efforts on increasing export revenue from potential markets like Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East and Mexico rather than seeking to expand cultivation.

 

“The target for unchanged catfish output next year will help keep the right balance between demand and supply, avoiding the repetition of turbulences of both redundancy and shortage in the coming time,” Phuong told with processors on solutions for catfish producers and growers.

 

Phuong asked for closer cooperation between catfish exporters and breeders for their own benefit and local seafood industry.

 

The deputy minister said the ministry will check all breeding facilities as well as processing plants to test the quality of the fish being exported.

 

Duong Ngoc Minh, general director of Hung Vuong Company, warned that so far 33 factories had registered to process 1.7 million tons of catfish in 2009, and if all 57 factories do it, the figure will not be less than 2.5 million tons. Many of them might not process as registered, and this will result in a surplus of catfish.

 

But participants at the meeting agreed that the production output should be at 1.2 million tons.

 

Ngo Phuoc Hau, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), added that the export of tra catfish will not grow strongly this year due to high interest rates and tight credit conditions.

 

Enterprises have to register the exact quantity for export in 2009 based on their present production capacity and last year’s production results, Mr. Hau said.

 

The industry harvested 900,000 tons of tra catfish in the first eight months and earned US$930 million from exporting 412,000 tons.

 

The ministry predicted that this year’s total export revenue of catfish will be around US$1.3 billion, some US$100 million higher than initial target, with Russia and Ukraine being the markets with highest growth.

 

But the ministry and the VASEP noted at the meeting that Russia warned many Vietnamese catfish consignments exported to this country were found to contain harmful microorganism.

 

VASEP said up to 27 batches of processed catfish shipped to Russia in the first 8 months were found to violate hygiene safety regulations. As result, 6 Vietnamese processors out of 38 companies have been banned temporarily to export seafood to Russia.

 

Russia has warned that if Vietnamese exporters keep violating regulations on food hygiene safety, it will no longer import Vietnamese catfish. (Saigon Times Daily, Saigon Liberation, Pioneer)