Many provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have relaxed social distancing, opening up many green areas to create momentum for seafood businesses to recover, with some businesses recovered by nearly 100%.

Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company has restored nearly 100% of workers.

Quick recovery

From September 21, 2021, Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company (Soc Trang) completely restored its capacity and returned to normal production, accelerating the goal of completing the export plan in 2021.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Cu, Assistant General Director of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company, since the beginning of September, the labor recovery rate at the company is quite good, especially from September 16, Soc Trang province announcing 103 out of 109 communes, wards and towns of the province have returned to green areas.

Thanks to many green areas, Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company's workforce recovered quickly.

From mid-August, after nearly a month of organizing "3 on-site" production, businesses in Soc Trang province were able to transport workers from green areas, so the number of workers going to work gradually increased, with the control model achieving more and more positive results.

By mid-September 2021, Soc Trang province announced a return to normal. At this time, the company has increased the number of employees by 80% compared to before the pandemic and has now fully recovered.

"Sao Ta will return to the new normal, speeding up processing to make up for the shortfall in output due to having to produce 3 on the spot, with only 40% of workers participating," Nguyen Van Cu said.

It is noteworthy that with a good purchase price, Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company now has enough processing materials for its large workforce.

Since the beginning of September 2021 and especially after September 15, the production and business situation of some enterprises as well as the consumption of main agricultural and aquatic products of Soc Trang and the Mekong Delta have significantly improved and recovered.

Good signal for business

According to information from some provinces in the Mekong Delta, after a period of deep decline, from the beginning of the second week of September, shrimp prices began to show signs of prosperity again and the level of price increase every day compared to the price of the previous day from VND2,000 to 5,000/kg depending on the size of shrimp. This is a good signal for the seafood production and business chain to recover faster.

For seafood processing enterprises that use a lot of labor, the fear of labor shortage is also gradually eased because the provinces have relaxed social distancing measures, expanding green zones, so the work of ensuring the safety of workers on health insurance is also established when the number of workers returning is increasing.

According to enterprises, the number of workers returning to work has basically met production requirements, so the capacity has also increased significantly, greatly contributing to the consumption of products for farmers.

According to Vietnam Clean Seafood Joint Stock Company, after the travel and transportation restrictions were removed, the company began to expand shrimp purchasing to some localities in the region to ensure enough raw materials for processing.

In order to carry out the dual goals of pandemic prevention and economic development, on September 23, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Thap province Pham Thien Nghia signed a decision to establish a Committee to support production, business and operation of enterprises.

Dong Thap determined each step of adapting and living with the pandemic. In the condition that the pandemic is still not under control in some areas, the focus will be on creating favorable conditions for people to consume and harvest agricultural and aquatic products. In particular, the remaining amount of seafood (about 26,000 tons) of pangasius processing enterprises needs dealing with, supporting and removing difficulties to help businesses in this field.

For 150 enterprises that are implementing "4 on the spot" operating at about 50% of capacity will be supported, creating conditions for enterprises to increase operating capacity; at the same time, creating conditions for businesses that have been stagnant in the past three months to gradually recover. In particular, creating favorable conditions for 14 new projects to be put into operation to quickly stabilize production, increase capacity, and facilitate export of goods.

The initiative of businesses along with the gradual opening of the economies of the Mekong Delta provinces will help businesses restore production and fulfill export orders.