Enormous challenges for fisheries industry as export markets shrink
VOV.VN - 2023 proved to be a difficult year for Vietnamese seafood industry due to global high inflation, the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict, and instability in the Middle East, according to insiders.
These challenges prompted global consumers to tighten their belt, leading to a sharp fall in the number of aquatic export orders.
2023 saw seafood export turnover stand at an estimated US$9.2 billion, meeting 92% of the set plan of US$10 billion. Of the overall figure, shrimp, pangasius, mollusk, and tuna exports hit about U$3.45 billion, US$1.9 billion, US$0.8 billion and US$0.9 billion, respectively.
Tran Dinh Luan, general director of the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasised that apart from external factors, the industry also confronted with challenges related to environmental issues and trade barriers.
Furthermore, the prices of input materials for aquaculture development remained high, while high logistics costs put pressure on farming and processing, especially amid consumption demand slowing and production scale shrinking.
Notably, the European Commission continued to maintain a yellow card warning for Vietnamese seafood products, dealing a heavy blow to seafood exports to the lucrative market.
Despite enduring numerous difficulties, the fisheries industry achieved positive results throughout the year, with total seafood production estimated at 9.269 million tonnes, up 2% year on year.
Tran Gia Long, deputy director of the Planning Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, pointed to the fact that the fisheries industry still maintained a positive growth rate compared to many other fields.
This year saw the overall growth rate of the agricultural industry stand at an estimated figure of between 3.5% and 3.6%, Long added.
According to the Department of Fisheries, moving into 2024 will continue to see challenges for the fisheries industry due to a decline in seafood resources and security situation at sea becoming more unpredictable.
In addition, regional countries are expected to continue to keep their tight control on exploitation activities at sea, causing fishermen's fishing grounds to shrink significantly.
Moreover, the import demand is likely to show no signs of recovery, largely due to tough competition occurring in export markets and high inventory levels of processing and exporting enterprises.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien requested that the fisheries industry next year move to devise appropriate solutions for production activities and encourage the involvement of businesses in the linkage chain to share risks.
He also underlined the need to develop a green seafood industry, which is an irreversible trend in the world.
Moving forward to 2024, the fisheries industry is targeting total seafood output of 9.22 million tonnes, equivalent to 2023, with seafood export turnover reaching about US$9.5 billion, up 3% compared to the set plan for the year.
