In spite of the “three on–site” scheme, shrimp processing firms speed up production right after the social distancing ends to take advantage of the year end effectively.
When provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta imposed the social distancing practice upon the Government’s Instruction no.16 in the middle of July, shrimp companies had to implement the “three on-site” scheme to keep producing. The number of workers was equal to 30% as usual, leaving a slump in processing capacity.
What really matters is to fulfil the sale contracts. Some enterprises have worked out a measure of purchasing big size shrimp to process a big amount of raw materials. That was considered a suitable change and has brought about efficiency.
Chairman of Minh Phú Seafood Corporation Lê Văn Quang explained: “It takes the same amount of time to process one kilogram of white leg shrimps size 100 and 5-7 kilograms of white leg shrimps size 20. Thus, increase in sales of big size prawns during the “three on-site” model made prices of small sizeshrimp drop. Furthermore, enterprises are preparing for orders from the EU and South America markets where customers require big size prawns.”
Thanks to scientific and flexible methods in Covid-19 prevention, shrimp companies have maintained operation since late August. The categorization of four zones upon the different levels of pandemic control measures enables more and more employees to come back to work.
By late August, as many as 50-60% of workers had come back to work in shrimp companies as compared to the time before social distancing was imposed.
Only 40% of employees had worked in Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company (Sóc Trăng) during the “three on-site” scheme once; it was raised to 60% at the end of August.
General Director of Vietnam Clean Seafood Corporation Võ Văn Phục informed the good news: “When the company started to apply the “three on- site” scheme, only 1,200 workers came to work. However, it was raised to 2,000 workers in early September. Thus we increased our purchase of shrimps”.
Provinces and cities in the South relaxed social distancing rules or entered a new normal status after September 16.
The output of processed shrimps and export volume have increased since September 16. Sao Ta Company processed 2,499 tons of shrimp, equal to 104.5% as compared to the same period last year, and earned 21.7 million USD from exports, equal to 121.2% of the same period last year.
In the first nine months of the year, Sao Ta’s export volume reached 154.6 millions USD, equal to 111.9% as compared to the same period last year, making a great contribution to the province’s export target.
Deputy General Director of Camimex Group Võ Văn Sơn said that the Group’s export revenue was estimated to reach 42 million USD in nine months. The last three months of the year are the peak season of the shrimp sector. If materials are not in short supply or disrupted by the Covid-19, Camimex will keep the target of 62-70 million USD of export value. Camimex has faced difficulties in the first nine months of the year, especially hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Group has maintained the production during the social distancing thanks to careful embracement with a stockpile of raw material shrimp.
When the social distancing ends and a large number of workers rush back to Hồ Chí Minh city, the Group will work with the province authority to hire more workers to fulfill the vacant positions in the production chain and complete the 2021 plan.
Many shrimp enterprises in the Mekong Delta with leading farming and processing facilities are positive to the recovery of shrimp export volume after the pandemic and all believe they can fulfill their targets in the last months of 2021.
VFM
