Vietnamese pangasius breeders and processors need more capital from banks to keep their operations going and reverse a decline in prices and exports, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).VASEP pleaded its case recently at a meeting with Cao Suc Phat, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and representatives from several banks. Due to scarcity of capital, processors have bought only a small volume of fish, leading to a continuous decline in fish prices, said Duong Ngoc Minh, general director of Hung Vuong Corp.
Over the first 10 months of 2012, pangasius exports reached US$ 1.455 billion, representing 2.2% decline compared to a year earlier. Pangasius shipments for the whole of 2012 are projected to reach nearly US $1.8 billion. As of late October of 2012, Vietnamese pangasius was sold to 135 foreign markets, mainly the EU, the US, the ASEAN bloc, and Brazil.
In the first quarter of this year, average price of raw pangasius in the Mekong Delta fluctuated at VND 25,000 per kilogram. In the second quarter, the price fell to VND 23,000, and the slide continued to VND 21,000 in the third quarter. Loans for farmers are limited, yet they need more credit to spend on their farming activities because time for farming is long (eight to ten months).
To invest in a single hectare for farming fish, farmers must put up VND 1.4 billion on buying fish seed. Farmers and enterprises are in a continuous struggle to extend deadlines for debt repayment. They cant get low interest rates because they dont have enough property to mortgage as required by banks, said Luu Bach Thao, Director of Anvifish Joint Stock.
Those farmers and enterprises will nevertheless need to make greater efforts to survive, because they will have to face a lot of bottlenecks in the coming months, Minister Phat stressed. But he suggested that the State Bank of Vietnam should offer better medium-term loans to enterprises which are run well, and should also direct five commercial banks to offer loans to pangasius farmers, making sure they are actually used in pangasius production and trade.
