HCM City (VNA) - If the shrimpindustry does not change it will be unable to export and will also need to berescued like its pork, dragon fruit and watermelon counterparts, heard a recent seminaron establishing a disease-free shrimp production chain for export in HoChi Minh City.

Pham Van Dong, head of the Department ofAnimal Health, said earnings from shrimp exports have increased significantlyin recent years, but the industry faces many challenges in breeding due to theimpact of climate changes and diseases.

Companies have also faced difficulties inexports due to the increasingly strict technical barriers related to diseasesand antibiotic residues put up by importing countries, he said.

Recently six markets -- Australia, theRepublic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, and Mexico -- have said theywould buy only products with disease-free certification in accordance withWorld Organisation for Animal Health regulations or recognised as free ofdiseases by their authorised agencies.

These markets account for 25 percent of thecountry’s total shrimp exports, or equivalent to 800 million USD a year.

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Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said shrimp processorsand exporters are deeply worried about the disease-free certificationrequirement.

It is hard for them to meet the demand in ashort time, he said.  

With the small average scale of production,if the country does not have comprehensive national measures, exporters wouldface difficulties in exporting in future.

Dang Quoc Tuan, deputy general director of Vietnam-AustraliaSeafood Corporation (Viet-Uc Seafood), said the survival rate of shrimp in Vietnamis very low at just 25-30 percent due to the low professional level of farmers.Vietnamese shrimp mainly competes on price, and the new regulations mean theycannot be exported whatever their price, he said.

The industry would therefore be forced tochange, he said. 

Nguyen Van Long, head of the department’sseafood veterinary division, said the department has a programme to enablefirms to meet regulations set by importing countries since 2014, butenterprises remain unmindful of this.

Only Viet-Uc Seafood and Huy Long AnCompany have participated in the programme to develop disease-free shrimp breedingfacilities.

Viet-Uc Seafood has basically met thecriteria to be recognised by animal health department.

Farmers and businesses in the country aregenerally not aware of the importance of building disease-free shrimp breedingfacilities.

But if the industry persists with itscurrent production methods, it would need to be rescued sooner rather thanlater.-VNA