"Luckily, I had insurance."

Nearly a month after Typhoon No. 3, Viet Truong Co., Ltd. (Do Son, Hai Phong ) remains in ruins due to the roofs of its five factory buildings being blown off. The entire cold storage facility, containing thousands of tons of seafood, had to be almost completely destroyed and no longer met export standards due to a five-day power outage. 60 hectares of aquaculture farms were also swept away by the storm.

According to the company's estimates, the immediate losses exceed 100 billion VND, not including missed business opportunities and contract penalties from foreign partners. Workers cannot return to work yet because the factory is only operating at about 50% capacity.

It is estimated that it will take at least another 5 years for Viet Truong to fully recover to its state before Typhoon Yagi .

Member businesses of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processing and Export (VASEP) from the South and Central regions sent teams of engineers and mechanics to assist Viet Truong in resolving the issue.

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The factory was damaged after the storm. Photo: Tuan Nguyen

Mr. Ngo Minh Phuong, CEO of Viet Truong Co., Ltd., said that the company has not yet been able to purchase materials to repair the roof and ceiling, and for the time being, they have to settle for a makeshift solution, focusing on key areas.

“Currently, the company is only operating at about 50% capacity due to a lack of funds to purchase raw materials and pay employee salaries. We are still fortunate because we purchased special risk insurance, while 100% of aquaculture households in the area have lost everything because they did not purchase insurance,” Mr. Phuong said.

Reportedly, Viet Truong spent 30 million VND to purchase insurance from Agribank Insurance Company (ABIC). This insurance package has a maximum compensation value of 80 billion VND. Based on the percentage of the total inventory value, the company is entitled to insurance compensation of over 20 billion VND.

The company has only received 2 billion VND as an advance compensation payment from ABIC.

Speaking to VietNamNet , Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, Deputy Director of ABIC Hai Phong Branch, said that according to statistics up to now, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Hai Duong have 300 customers eligible for compensation, with the total compensation amount being approximately 300 billion VND.

"The repair and restoration process will take a long time. To fully compensate customers, we need to wait for the conclusion of an independent assessment unit; for now, the company can only provide advance compensation," Ms. Tam said.

According to Mr. Phuong, for businesses today, every penny counts, so receiving the advance compensation helps the company pay workers' salaries, with the remaining small amount used for factory repairs. He hopes that the compensation process will be completed soon so that the company can reinvest and resume operations as quickly as possible.

Proposal for the State to subsidize a portion of agricultural insurance costs.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of VASEP, seafood businesses not only suffered direct losses from the storm, but the biggest loss was lost business opportunities. "It takes at least a week to repair and get the factories back on track after the storm, not to mention that input materials are also affected and cannot be available immediately," Mr. Nam said.

According to Mr. Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the Fisheries Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the total area of ​​aquaculture farms in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong affected by the disaster reached over 3,000 hectares with more than 14,000 fish cages, including over 12,000 cages at sea. The estimated losses for aquaculture farmers exceed 6,000 billion VND.

According to Mr. Luan, insurance in the agricultural sector has not yet been widely adopted, due to reasons stemming from two sides. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is proposing that the Government provide a policy to partially subsidize insurance costs for high-risk areas such as aquaculture, so that insurance for aquaculture farmers can be implemented regularly and continuously.

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Businesses are striving to resume operations. Photo: Tuan Nguyen

Besides the support from banks in lowering interest rates and restructuring debt, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is calling on businesses supplying input materials to join hands in supporting people to restore production.

"There are businesses that want to work alongside the people, from providing breeding stock and guiding environmental management to businesses that are committed to supporting the production chain and purchasing products," Mr. Luan said.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is drafting a new circular regulating the restructuring of loan repayment terms for customers affected by Typhoon No. 3. The SBV will submit a proposal to the Government to maintain the loan classification for these restructured loans. Currently, this circular is being circulated for comments from relevant parties. Comments from these parties will be sent to the SBV before October 3rd for compilation and submission to the Government regarding the mechanism for maintaining the loan classification.

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Trillions swept away by storm, where is agricultural insurance?

Over 2.5 trillion VND is the estimated damage to 23,595 hectares of aquaculture farms due to Typhoon No. 3. 22,808 head of livestock and over 3 million poultry died... Farmers suffered losses amounting to trillions of VND, but most did not have insurance.
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