To overcome the labor shortage, as well as maintain production and export, some seafood enterprises are expanding to recruit more workers in green areas.

Shrimp farming area of Sao Ta Food Company,
a member of PAN Group. Photo: PAN Group

Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company has just announced the recruitment of 500 workers and dozens of engineers to serve shrimp processing factories for export. The move to recruit workers at this time shows that enterprises are "turning risks into opportunities" in their efforts to maintain production and exports in this difficult time.

Talking to Customs News, Mr. Pham Hoang Viet, General Director of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company (FIMEX VN), said Soc Trang divides the locality into four regions: the green zone is the new normal; the yellow zone is risky; the orange zone is the high risk zone and the red zone is the very high risk zone.

Therefore, in order to maintain production, in addition to performing the 3 on-site activities, the company recruited more workers in green areas.

According to the leader of FIMEX VN, most of the large enterprises in Soc Trang are in the frozen shrimp processing industry. The local safe zoning model is endorsed by shrimp entrepreneurs, expressing gratitude to the province's determination for understanding and sharing with the business community's difficulties.

Compared with the early implementation of Directive 16, now businesses have found it easier to mobilize labor and commit to periodic medical examination of employees. Businesses that are trying to restore operations step by step, in the ability to control the pandemic without re-hiring workers, will pose a high risk in disease control.

According to businesses, during this period, the output of finished shrimp is only about 30% of normal levels, which has a significant impact on the country's shrimp export turnover in August.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Soc Trang's seafood export turnover in the first half of the year ranked first in the country, especially surpassing the shrimp capital of Ca Mau for the first time. Soc Trang shrimp enterprises occupy five positions among the 10 shrimp enterprises with the highest export turnover in the country. These are Stapimex, FIMEX VN, VN Cleanfood, UTXI and TAIKA.

According to the analysis of VASEP, currently most of the shrimp processing factories for export are forced to reduce their capacity to 30-50% to implement the "3 on the spot" model, so the demand for raw materials decreases. It is expected that shrimp prices will recover after localities control the disease.

The situation of travel between localities is difficult, so the stocking activities of the second crop tend to be quiet. It is forecasted that in the fourth quarter of this year, there will be a serious shortage of shrimp materials and the consumption price will increase sharply, especially for large-sized shrimp.

According to some shrimp processing enterprises, a number of shrimp farming supplies, including shrimp seed and aqua feed, were transported to shrimp farming areas with difficulties, disrupting the schedule.

Despite the obstacles, businesses believe that the path for Mekong Delta shrimp is still quite wide because every year Vietnam's shrimp exports increase sharply from the middle of the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Mekong Delta coastal provinces have solutions to expand "safe green areas" to increase shrimp farming areas; more factories implementing “3 on-site”; creating favorable conditions in harvesting, trading and transporting shrimp from the pond to the factory while regulations on disease prevention were still ensured

In addition, the shrimp industry as well as the seafood industry in general need to ensure vaccination for 100% of workers, policies to support low-income workers, support to share insurance money with businesses, unions, bank interest rates, electricity and water bills.

It is necessary to have a synchronous coordination mechanism among localities in disease control and prevention, to remove difficulties for businesses, and to ensure smooth transportation to maintain production and export.

With the above factors, new businesses will promote shrimp consumption for farmers, thereby increasing processing, striving to fulfill the shrimp export target of US$3.8-4 billion this year.

Currently, the demand from import markets is high due to a shortage of supply from Vietnam during the lockdown. It is forecasted that after the disease is controlled, the price of raw shrimp will recover.

According to a forecast of a shrimp industry expert, countries supplying deep-processed shrimp are also falling into difficult situations due to Covid-19, such as Thailand and Indonesia, so in the near future, deep-processed shrimp will increase in price quite well. To ensure the growth of shrimp exports in the following months, it is necessary to ensure the stability of shrimp farming activities, businesses are trying to take advantage of the green area to overcome shortcomings, maintain production and export.