Business efforts
As one of the leading enterprises in exporting pangasius in the Mekong Delta, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company (CP) strives to increase the value of this endemic fish species, in addition to the main product of fish meat. General Director of Nam Viet Joint Stock Company Doan Toi said that in 2022, Nam Viet will complete construction and put into operation the AMICOGEN factory with a capacity of 800,000 tons of finished products of Collagen and Gelatin/year. The company is orienting to cooperate to expand the scale of the factory to exploit the value of fish skin and pangasius fat by-products.
Despite many efforts, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company could not escape the impact of the global economic recession, especially the market with reduced purchasing power after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Nam Viet strived to maintain jobs for 6,500 workers, total raw materials for producing 110,000 tons of pangasius, achieving total revenue of 4,935 billion VND, of which export revenue was 180 million USD, pre-tax profit of 780 billion VND, post-tax profit of 660 billion VND, and tax payment to the state of 179 billion VND. This result only reached 78% of the set plan.
In 2023, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company strives to maintain jobs for 7,500 workers, total raw materials for production of 130,000 tons of pangasius, total revenue of 5,700 billion VND, of which export revenue is 215 million USD, pre-tax profit of 100 billion VND, after-tax profit of 85 billion VND. The company plans to build a SURIMI factory with a capacity of 24,000 tons of finished Surimi products/year, revenue of 40 million USD.
Facing difficulties
With a target of increasing revenue but a sharp decrease in profit compared to 2022, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company has anticipated the difficulties of the pangasius export market, especially the post-COVID-19 impacts.
Mr. Doan Toi said that after 24 years of working in the tra fish industry, there has never been a time as difficult as now. While the export price of tra fish has always been low since the beginning of the year, the price of raw materials for feed production has increased (soybean meal increased from 9,000 VND/kg to 15,500 VND/kg; rice bran increased from 4,800 VND/kg to 7,800 VND/kg), causing the price of raw tra fish to increase to 29,000 - 30,000 VND/kg. Enterprises also face additional difficulties due to high bank loan interest rates, and a 3% increase in electricity prices...
At Thot Not Industrial Park ( Can Tho City), Nam Viet Joint Stock Company invested in building roads but the industrial park still collects fees. Nam Viet's seafood processing factory has invested millions of USD to build a wastewater treatment system. Although the output wastewater meets type A (enough to discharge into the environment), it is forced to connect to the industrial park's wastewater system and must pay a second wastewater treatment fee of VND 7,488/m3 of water.
Four years ago, Nam Viet Joint Stock Company invested in a 600-hectare high-tech aquaculture project in Chau Phu district. However, the administrative procedures for converting the land use purpose from rice fields to aquaculture have not yet been completed. The reason is that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has not yet agreed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).
Find the bright spot
Leading the Government delegation to work with An Giang province, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan chose Nam Viet Joint Stock Company as one of the two enterprises to survey and work with (along with Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company), because pangasius is an advantageous product of the Mekong Delta, contributing greatly to Vietnam's export turnover. Removing difficulties for Nam Viet is also opening the way for the general development of the pangasius industry.
Up to now, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has not had any specific regulations for aquaculture wastewater, so environmental impact assessments of pangasius farming projects are required to follow QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT, the national technical regulation on industrial wastewater.
Vice Chairman of the An Giang Provincial People's Committee Tran Anh Thu said that according to regulations, the total coliforms discharged into the environment by Nam Viet's farming area is a violation. However, in reality, the coliform content of the input water source (river water) is twice as high as that of the wastewater discharged from the farming area, meaning that the enterprise has treated it to reduce the amount of coliforms. "Based on the enterprise's proposal, the Provincial People's Committee will adjust the decision to impose administrative sanctions, removing the content of the penalty for the coliform index" - Mr. Thu emphasized.
Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Viet Tri said that for seafood processing factories that have invested in a type A wastewater treatment system and are allowed to discharge into the environment without connecting to the industrial park wastewater system, the connection requirement is not necessary. Particularly for the 600ha high-tech aquaculture project of Nam Viet in Chau Phu district, the relevant agencies are promoting procedures to support enterprises in converting land use purposes, creating favorable conditions for investment and production development.
Sharing the difficulties of Nam Viet Joint Stock Company in particular and seafood enterprises in general, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan suggested that enterprises need to calmly respond to market fluctuations, geopolitical and geo-economic situations in the world. In particular, research new models suitable to market trends; reorganize production and business to adapt better; exploit more value-added products from pangasius...
The difficulties for the pangasius industry are only temporary because with the increasing demand for food consumption in the future, the world still needs pangasius products - a food with affordable prices but high nutritional value, easy to use, and favored by consumers.
At the meeting with US Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Susan Burns, Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh said that An Giang is the "cradle" of pangasius farming, processing and exporting, and proposed that the US Consul General act as a bridge to promote An Giang pangasius products to this large market. In the context of whitefish shortages from Russia and some other countries, it is forecasted that US seafood demand will likely recover from the second half of 2023 due to cooling inflation, reduced inventories, and increased purchasing power. Meanwhile, the EU, China... also increased imports of Vietnamese pangasius due to good competitive prices, which can replace some seafood products in shortage. |
STANDARD CORN
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