Tra fish companies see profits flounder

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Multiple tra fish companies suffered losses due to falling export prices and lower orders, focusing instead on the domestic market amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected the world seafood industry, leading to a reduction in consumption and causing orders to decrease by 35-50 percent.

Social distancing measures in April caused interruptions in international trade. Enterprises lacked raw materials for processing, facing difficulties in transportation, payment and lacking capital to maintain operations.

VASEP said tra fish was among Vietnam’s most affected seafood products in the pandemic with export turnover dropping by over 31 percent in the first half. Declining new orders, high inventories and low export prices have made profits of businesses plummet.

The Dong Thap province-based Vinh Hoan Company (VHC) announced that second-quarter profit halved to 215 billion VND (9.2 million USD) compared to last year.

Six-month profit also halved to nearly 368 billion VND, thus fulfilling 35 percent of the yearly target.

Vinh Hoan is researching investment strategies for raising profit via value chains. Besides traditional tra fish export activities, the company aims to increase sales of fish fat and fish meal by 20 percent this year, sales of collagen and gelatin products by 60 percent thanks to the new factory being put into operation.

Nam Viet Corporation (ANV) saw second-quarter profit decrease by 79 percent year-on-year to reach 32 billion VND, the lowest level since the beginning of 2017.

In the first six months of this year, net revenue dropped by 14 percent while post-tax profit fell by nearly 79 percent to 75.5 billion VND.

Although the company forecasts profit this year to fall by 72 percent to 200 billion VND, it only achieved 38 percent of the plan in the first half.

Export turnover fell by 52 percent to 399 billion VND in the second quarter. However, thanks to a focus on the domestic market, the company achieved domestic net sales of 485 billion VND, up 113 percent compared to the same period of 2019 and for the first time, domestic sales surpassed exports.

ANV is stepping up to exploit domestic demand by cooperating in consuming products in the distribution chain of VinEco under Masan Group.

I.D.I International Development & Investment Corporation (IDI) saw a drop of 61 percent in Q2 profit to 26 billion VND.

The company said that the COVID-19 pandemic had a heavy impact on the production and export of frozen fillets of tra fish as the market was interrupted and export prices plummeted.

Six-month profit dropped by 82 percent year-on-year to over 40 billion VND.

In 2020, the company wishes to expand export markets, at the same time partnering with farming households to be able to self-supply 95 percent of raw materials.

The Cuu Long An Giang Seafood Import-Export Company (ACL) earned profit of only 4 billion VND in the second quarter, down 93 percent compared to the same period of 2019.

In six months, the company recorded a profit of over 5 billion VND, a decrease of 95 percent and only achieved 7 percent of the yearly plan.

The Mekong Fisheries Joint Stock Company (AAM) suffered a loss of nearly 600 million VND in the second quarter because export turnover decreased by half compared to the same period last year.

Six-month profit reached only 71 million VND and fell far short of the target of 8 billion VND in profit set out for this year./.