Boosting tra fish quality urged to match up to Chinese competition
Vietnam’s tra fish (pangasius) industry has been urged to strongly improve its quality so as to compete with not only traditional rivals, but also its biggest tra fish importer – China.
Farmers harvest tra fish in Thot Not district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam’s tra fish (pangasius)industry has been urged to strongly improve its quality so as to compete withnot only traditional rivals, but also its biggest tra fish importer – China.
According to the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP), the domestic tra fish sector faces manyrivals, including India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh – who each represents around15-20 percent of global production.
The global production of farmed tra fish wasestimated at 2.8 million tonnes in 2018, up 6 percent from the previous year,and about 45 percent of this total was sourced from Vietnam, mostly in theMekong Delta.
As of March 2019, there were 20 tra fishprocessing factories in China whose production capacity had reached some 30,000tonnes per year. This fact indicates that China is likely to become a big rivalto Vietnam’s tra fish industry in the near future, VASEP said.
However, insiders said the competitiveness ofVietnamese tra fish should not be assessed through only quantity, but thequality of fish fry and products is the key.
To help address this issue, a high-tech tra fishfarming project covering 600 ha will be carried out in the Mekong Deltaprovince of An Giang in the fourth quarter of this year. When operational, itis expected to supply around 200,000 tonnes of high-quality raw materials eachyear for processing and subsequent export.
VASEP Secretary General Truong Dinh Hoe saidonce the quality of Vietnamese tra fish is improved and wins the trust ofconsumers in demanding markets, it will also have more opportunities to be soldwell on the e-commerce platform of Alibaba of China, as well as on Amazon ofthe US.
“Through the e-commerce website (Alibaba),Vietnam’s tra fish products will have greater chances to enter this giantmarket,” he added.
In 2018, tra fish exports brought in a record of2.26 billion USD, rising 26.4 percent year-on-year. Vietnam has set a targetrevenue at 2.4 billion USD for 2019.–VNA
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has urged the fisheries sector to build a safe and high-quality seafood brand, continue increasing the quality of products, maintain traditional markets and develop new ones.
Tra fish breeds producers in the Mekong Delta have been urged to closely work with research institutes, universities and scientists to apply advanced farming techniques to produce high quality breeds.
Tra fish exports were worth a record high of 2.2 billion USD in 2018, 26.4 percent higher than in 2017 and representing a breakthrough for Vietnam’s catfish industry.
The aquaculture sector makes up nearly 10 bln USD in exports each year but the sector is facing several challenges, including the threat of completely losing markets for Vietnamese tra fish products.
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Farmers harvest tra fish in Thot Not district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho (Photo: VNA) 
