Bui NgOc TO Nga Deputy quality management director, Southern Shrimp JSC

The new regulations stipulate that ingredient suppliers must have collection facilities listed on the EU’s updated food safety list. In reality, very few facilities meet these requirements. Therefore, to ensure a stable supply of ingredients, companies must allocate manpower. Additionally, efforts to self-collect in farming areas leads to additional costs.

Many customers in each EU country have different certification standards, leading to additional operating expenses and costs associated with working with independent assessment entities, including some certifications with similar systems that still need to be individually implemented.

Current labour laws in Vietnam are not suitable for the seafood industry, causing issues when implementing Social Responsibility Standards. The seafood processing industry does not allow seasonal labour, while shrimp harvesting is seasonal, leading to labour shortages during peak seasons. Consequently, at certain times, we cannot optimise the raw materials for production expansion. production, and export are receiving significant support from government agencies. However, there are still many issues to be addressed and improved in feed, seedlings, and aquaculture technology. This is a significant factor contributing to high product costs and reduced competitiveness with major shrimp-exporting countries such as Ecuador and India.

Therefore, I hope that we will invest more in science and technology, with more participation from top experts with proper scientific qualifications to develop our shrimp industry to the right level and compete with other major shrimp-exporting countries.

The government and relevant ministries should also support enterprises in importing suitable raw materials for production and export. Currently, many proactive enterprises have seized and implemented processing for goods for EU countries. This is a way for us to learn from them in terms of management, production, and business practices. Now, is not a time to stand still.

From there, these enterprises can procure raw materials for production. Over the next 5-10 years, we can utilise this opportunity to regenerate seafood resources and rebuild the supporting infrastructure onshore.

Fishermen are also gradually transitioning to aquaculture or changing their scale. Like Norway, when transitioning, the government repurchased small boats and provided financial support to fishermen to acquire larger vessels. This is a necessary strategy for developing the seafood industry.n