Updated  
June, 01 2012 11:00:00

An Giang to promote seafood

Farmers harvest tra fish in the southern province of An Giang. During the first five months this year, the province exported 57,000 tonnes of fish products, earning US$165.3 million. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

HA NOI — The tra fish production industry in southern An Giang Province has faced many challenges despite an increase in export value during the first five months of this year.

According to the An Giang Agriculture and Rural Development Department, in the first five months this year, the province exported 57,000 tonnes of tra fish products, earning US$165.3 million. The exports saw a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in value.

However, due to difficulties in raw material and capital, the industry would not be able to achieve its export target of 165,000 tonnes in volume and $465 million in value this year, the department said.

It added that the province had a stable output of around 227,000 tonnes of tra fish, including 82,200 tonnes from areas owned by tra fish processors. The remaining output, produced by farmers in many places in the province had unstable quality and fluctuating prices.

Currently, shortage of capital has led farmers to stop raising tra fish, so that processors found it difficult to get decent raw material for their plants.

On the other hand, farmers and enterprises said quality and quantity of tra fish varieties on the market were not good in addition to rising production costs and declining profits and even losses.

The department said 30.68 per cent of the total seafood enterprises in the province enjoyed effective production and business, 38.46 per cent of them could continue sluggish production, and around 30.86 per cent were facing a high risk of stopping operations.

Those who were struggling with difficulty accounted for 69.32 per cent were also in dire need of capital.

Mai Thi Anh Tuyet, director of the An Giang Industry and Trade Department, said in order to help businesses overcome the situation, banks were required to increase credit and reschedule debts for seafood producers.

Also businesses were required to implement effective management and new investment policies, Tuyet said.

The province would encourage businesses and farmers to work with the provincial centre of seafood varieties in increasing product quality, she said. An Giang would also implement trade promotion programmes to advertise tra fish products on markets at home and abroad and develop a trademark for An Giang tra fish products. — VNS

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