Building up Vietnam’s international reputation as a seafood exporter

We should devise proper strategies to help our businesses establish links with global giants, according to Nguyen Huu Dung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

Currently, Japan continues to be Vietnam’s biggest seafood importer, followed by the US, China, the European Union, Russia and several East European countries. Vietnam is now the world’s seventh biggest seafood exporter. Despite facing the dumping lawsuit against Tra and Basa fish in the US, Vietnam’s fisheries sector has still maintained its growth in recent years.

To cope withnew challenges in the integration process, seafood businesses are advised to equip themselves with adequate knowledge of international laws and practices as well as clearness and transparency in product quality. They should pay attention to developing material supplying resources, particularly the possibility of presenting the origin and certificates clarifying the whole process from aquaculture to processing. To minimise losses on the global market, businesses should also update information on standards and quality certifying systems in the world market to meet importers’ requirements.

VOV reporter Tran Duc Thanh interviewed Nguyen Huu Dung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).

VOV: Many Vietnamese export items have come under competitive pressure after the country joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). What do you think about seafood – one of Vietnam’s major hard currency earners?

Mr Dung: WTO membership means Vietnam now has a common playing field to play by the rules and we have to accept this fact. This is a big challenge, but also an opportunity. Since Vietnam started integrating into the world, our seafood businesses have already penetrated the world market, including developed countries. Therefore, I think competition is not so big a problem now. In other words, competition in the post-WTO period is not new to seafood businesses.

However, the crux of the matter is how to seize and make the best use of opportunities among challenges. Before joining the WTO, Vietnamese seafood businesses had to deal with big market challenges, including trade and technical barriers and dumping lawsuits, and they managed to overcome those challenges in different ways. I think businesses should have more thorough preparations for the integration process.

VOV: What are weaknesses of the seafood sector?

Mr Dung: The weakest point, I think, is the imbalance between the production of materials and the processing capacity for export, which depends on production and organisation skills, quantity and quality and cooperation between aquatic breeders and processors. Take food safety for an example:

First, importers are interested in the content of anti-biotic and chemical residues in aquatic products. This often occurs in aquaculture, but processors suffer from the consequences in the long run. How to solve this problem needs cooperation between aquatic breeders and processors.

Second, it is the possibility of promoting the image of Vietnamese seafood around the world to establish its global foothold. We have done this quite well by and large, but it remains a big question for every business. Trademark is another matter of concern. Our products have been exported to importers and distributed under different names.

Third, it is business management. Our business management skill is still lower than our rivals on the market.

VOV: In recent times, the craft associations, especially VASEP, have made significant contributions to connecting businesses together to overcome trade and technical barriers. The problem could become much more difficult after Vietnam joined the WTO. What have you done to cope with these trade barriers?

Mr Dung: Linkage is an inherent weakness of many Vietnamese businesses. First, to overcome this, businesses should operate in the interests and responsibility sharing principles. VASEP has established craft committees. I think cooperation should be reflected in every category of goods, because besides common issues, there are other issues arising from each particular category, which need to be addressed by producers themselves.

Second, it depends on cooperation between material suppliers and processors known as “vertical” linkage, alongside cooperation between businesses of similar products and material suppliers known as “horizontal” linkage.

Third, linkage with importers is also important, as it is dependent on the interaction between our seafood businesses and foreign importers. With the globally established reputation, our seafood products can be targeted on large-scale groups of importers rather than small-scale ones. We should have proper strategies to help our businesses cooperate with global giants. This is a very important linkage.

Cooperation with environmental protection organisations is also an important factor. In fact, environmental organisations have important voice among consumers and inhabitant communities. To meet the requirements of these organisations, we should enhance coordination and linkage with the group of agencies that inspect, recognise and certify quality specifications. In brief, VASEP is promoting the four-party cooperation between producers, foreign importers, environmental organisations and quality management agencies.

VOV: Thank you very much.

Source: VOV