The seafood companies’ workers in the Tra Noc Industrial Zone of Can Tho City and the Hoa Trung Industrial Zone in Ca Mau province come to factories irregularly these days.
On the Highway No. 1A, which goes through the biggest shrimp material areas – Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, there are no more bustling shrimp markets gathering in the afternoon after the working hours like in the previous years.
These are all the bad signals for the seafood industry. A lot of seafood companies in the region have fallen into insolvency; others have been operating at a moderate level. Only a few companies have luckily escaped the biggest difficulties and now try to resume the production.
In the Tra Noc Industrial Zone, An Khang Import-Export Company still opens. However, it opens just to receive some 70 workers who come to work in shifts under the management of Director Tran Hong Quan.
Quan was prosecuted six months ago for the behavior of cheating people to appropriate people’s assets, and he is now out on bail.
A worker of the company said that since the day Deputy Director Nguyen Thi Thu Suong, the daughter of Quan was sentenced to jail, An Khang still has been operating at a moderate level since August 2011 with the unpaid debt of VND370 billion.
In order to keep the production lines busy, the workers of the company now process fried fish for Nam My Company Ltd. Meanwhile, the words “import-export” has been removed from the company’s name plate.
The worker said that previously, the company processed some 120 tons of materials a month. However, the amount has been halved recently, because the South Korean companies have been scrambling for materials.
Thien Ma Company has also been operating at a moderate level for the last many months. It now processes catfish for other enterprises to bring jobs to workers, while waiting for the restructuring of the debt worth VND700 billion.
Vinh Nguyen proves to be more tragic than the two above said companies. The young owner Le Tung Huy has sold the enterprise. The new owner of Vnh Nguyen is still busy re-building the workshops, having announced that he would recruit 100 female workers and pay VND3-6 million a month to workers. However, it’s still unclear when the company would officially resume its production.
In Ca Mau province, one year ago, the 35 year old entrepreneur Pham Tien Dung became the member of the board of directors of a series of seafood companies such as Viet Hai, Ngoc Chau and Dai Duong. However, later, Dung left Ngoc Chau for a couple of businessmen in the real estate sector.
Meanwhile, Dung, who is still the President of Viet Hai and Dai Duong with the chartered capital of VND120 billion for each of the company, has run the companies to…big difficulties.
Viet Hai has closed down over the last 11 months, while a lot of the company’s workers complained they still have not salaries. Meanwhile, Dai Duong has just resumed its operation in May 2013 after the debt settlement process headed by the Ca Mau provincial authorities.
The first owner of the Minh Chau Seafood Import-Export Company also ran away when the company incurred big debts. The businessmen, after handing over the company and the VND100 bllion worth of debt to the new owner, has left for HCM City, where he opens a restaurant.
