Vietnam in danger of losing shrimp export markets
Vietnamese seafood exporters are scrambling to buy raw materials to compete with Chinese businesses to fulfill export contracts. Local newspapers quoted sources as reporting that shrimp processing workshops in Mekong River Delta are now running at just 50-60 percent of capacity because of the lack of capital. Though processors are willing to pay high prices, shrimp supply is low because farmers who have experienced mass shrimp deaths are not continuing to breed. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ca Mau, the province with the largest shrimp cultivation area, the total shrimp output in the first five months of the year was 134,000 tons, just fulfilling 40 percent of the plan.
