The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) wants the government to lower the import tariffs on raw seafood now that local production has been pared to the bone.
Vice Chair Nguyen Huu Dung says seafood processing companies are importing up to 70 percent of their supplies, so the 10-20 percent import duty is a heavy expense for them.
According to VASEP, it will be difficult for the industry to meet this year's export target of $4.5 billion because of the global economic contraction, and the reduced amount of fish farming in Vietnam after last year's heavy losses.
In the first five months, the country shipped slightly over $1.3 billion of seafood abroad, down 9.4 percent from a year earlier.
Shrimp can be farmed throughout the year in the delta and harvested after four or five months, but VASEP says that many shrimp ponds in the Mekong Delta have been lying idle since farmers took a heavy hit last year.
Two glaring examples are Bac Lieu Province, where only 2,000 out of 10,000 hectares of shrimp ponds are still being used, and Soc Trang Province, where 4,000 of 5,000 hectares are idle.
Truong Thi Loan, deputy director of Kien Long Seafood Processing Co. in Kien Giang Province, says her company could not fill all its export orders as it could buy only two tonnes of raw shrimp per day, or one fifth of its processing capacity.
Kim Anh Seafood Processing Co. in Soc Trang Province is in the same boat and running at 15-20 percent capacity, according to deputy general director Do Ngoc Tai.
The central region is experiencing a shortage of raw seafood too, but for another reason.
Earlier this month, industry insiders said the unilateral Chinese ban on commercial fishing in the East Sea was starving the region's seafood factories of input.
Nguyen Tuan Ngoc, manager of Tho Quang fishing port in Da Nang, says that barely 100 tonnes of seafood is being unloaded at the port daily, compared with 150-180 tonnes before two weeks ago.
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