The government has said that seafood producers, who depend mainly on imports for fish feed, should consider backward integration so that they can reduce costs and improve their global competitiveness.

“To improve their competitiveness, seafood producers should be active in all stages – from producing breeding stock and making fish feed to processing products,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong told the media on the sidelines of a ministry meeting in Hanoi Tuesday.

Asked about the reported cooperation between catfish (tra) producers of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh to sell their products on the global market, he said: “This [their cooperation] poses a great challenge.”

But Vietnamese producers should not worry too much since their country has the best natural conditions to raise catfish and competition is to be expected in business, he said.

Earlier, at the meeting, Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said the government should ban the use of chemicals, whose residues remain in the fish and hamper exports.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said his ministry would soon set up a scientists’ council to examine the chemicals to add them to the list of banned chemicals if necessary.

Phuong said the ministry has also instructed concerned agencies to intensify monitoring of seafood exports for quality.

“We have not lost any market due to poor quality. But, if we do not strictly deal with poor practices, it will happen. But we now get lower prices because of quality,” he said, adding that some buyers like the US, Germany and Russia have warned Vietnam about seafood quality problems.

Reported by Ngan Anh

Last Updated: Thursday, February 12, 2009 14:17:01 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Source: www.thanhniennews.com