6 apartment blocks caught exceeding height limit

The inspectorate of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, and their counterparts in District 2 have found all six apartment blocks in Binh Thien An Real-Estate Co’s condo project at Diamond Island in District 2 to surpass the height limit.

Spanning 8 hectares, Diamond Island is the new planned urban area near the junction of Saigon River – Giong Ong To, Binh Trung Tay Ward, District 2. According to the plan approved by the municipal Department of Construction in 2009, the area is expected to have a 122,000-square-meter urban complex with 6 apartment blocks with 16 to 25 stories each.

The project has a total investment of VND1.9 trillion (US$91.2 million), and was scheduled to reach completion last year.

Following a joint inspection on February 21, inspectorate officials found that all of the apartments have built 1-2 stories more than allowed. Specifically, the 16-story building has been constructed with 17 stories, the 19-story building has 21, and the highest of them, the 26-story block, was approved to have only 25 stories.

The officials have made a report on the violation, and asked the project’s investors, as well as the constructors, to discontinue the project.

However, a week after the crackdown, on February 28, work on the construction site is still progressing normally, with all of the six blocks in stages of completion.

According to the People’s Committee of Binh Trung Tay Ward, the construction inspectorates of relevant agencies have drawn a report on the construction’s administrative violation.

“Relevant agencies will impose appropriate penalties on the investors depending on their degree of breaching regulations,” an official from the committee told Tuoi Tre.

Regarding the public wondering how such a violation was only detected when the project was nearly completed, the chiefs of the people’s committee said it was a matter of human force.

The inspectorates of Binh Trung Tay Ward and District 2 have provided checkups on the construction on a regular basis, they said.

However, they added, there are only three officials in the ward inspectorate team, and they had to carry out many other tasks in the pre- and post-Tet periods.

“The investors have made use of these times to breach the height limit in their apartments.”

The construction inspectorates have reported the case to the municipal Department of Construction.

However, a source told Tuoi Tre that the project investors are completing procedures to call on the Ministry of Construction to adjust the project design, a move insiders said is intended to legalize the construction of the apartments that have defied height limits at Diamond Island.

The Diamond Island project is one of the most luxurious and expensive condo projects in HCMC. At the time the project construction was announced in late 2009, industry players said each apartment cost around $300,000 to $3 million with many high-class standards.

The area for docking cruise ships on the island was also put on sale at $500,000.

Though the information had yet to be verified, the project had managed to attract special attentions from real-estate investors at that time.

According to the HCMC Department of Construction, the total capital required for the project is as much as VND1.9 trillion ($91.2 million), with the investors accounting for VND327 billion. Nearly VND486 billion came from bank loans, and VND1.07 trillion, from customers who paid for the apartment in advance.

Vietnam to host regional food conference

The 31 st session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific region will held in Hanoi from March 12-16.

The biennial event aims to discuss and put forward recommendations for key issues on food and agriculture impacts in the region, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The five-day conference is expected to draw government officials from 44 FAO member countries and representatives from UN agencies, donors, development partners, international inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, civil society and the business sector.

During the first three days, from 12 to 14 March, senior government officials will hold in-depth discussions on a range of issues central to food security and rural poverty alleviation in Asia-Pacific countries, regional and global policy and regulatory issues such as the state of food and agriculture in Asia-Pacific, and initiatives by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and programme and budgetary matters.

Reports of the senior officials will be reviewed and endorsed by ministers, MARD said.

Within the conference’s framework, a round table will be held on policies to address food price volatility.

The conference is scheduled to adopt reports by March 16.

Banks lower interest rates for loans

Since the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, lender banks across the board have been reducing loans’ interest rates.

Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, or Agribank, now offers the interest rate range of 14.5 percent to 17 percent for short-term loans and 19 percent for medium and long-term ones.

Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) quote their interest rates at 14.5 percent and 15.5 percent per year respectively for selective clients.

Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and ANZ Vietnam have incentive packages for corporate borrowers through lending rate cuts.

Lending rates now range from 14 percent to 17 percent at big banks, while small lenders still charge above 20 percent.

Foreign banks like HSBC and ANZ predicted deposit and lending rates would fall early in the second quarter this year if inflation dropped into single-digit territory.

Economic experts shared the view that interest rates would slip across the board when anti-inflation and banking restructuring measures bore fruit.

Big businesses are the first to enjoy lowered rates. Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, deputy general director of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, said his company’s regular lenders had announced a new interest rate of 17 percent, down from 19 percent before Tet.

Tran Van Hau, managing director of Hung Ca Co. Ltd., said his firm could now enjoy lending rates of 16 percent - 17.5 percent, 0.7-1 percentage point lower than the pre-Tet period.

However, Ngoc Kim Chau, an export-import company, said it had been offered loans at an interest rate of 24 percent, which is a little bit higher than the pre-Tet level.

The owner of a small construction company with chartered capital of VND10 billion said a major joint stock bank had offered his firm what was described as a preferential credit package but the interest rate was over 24 percent.

The central bank has told commercial banks to make reports on loans for corporate borrowers and suggestions for spurring lending to enterprises.

Support industries seen as key to drawing investment
 
Viet Nam hopes more small- and medium-sized enterprises from Japan will invest in the country as the latter revises its overseas investment strategy in the aftermath of natural disasters and economic recession, a senior official said.

"Although Japan is a big investment partner in Viet Nam, most Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises are hesitant to invest in Viet Nam," Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) said at a meeting held yesterday in HCM City.

The conference, organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment's FIA in collaboration with Japanese's Forval Corporation, discussed attracting Japanese firms into local industrial parks.

Hoang blamed the Japanese investors' reluctance on a lack of information about investment opportunities, investment environment and preferential policies, especially in Viet Nam's industrial parks.

Japan is the fourth biggest foreign investor in Viet Nam with more than 1,600 projects worth US$23.6 billion. In the first two months of this year, Viet Nam attracted about $1.2 billion of foreign direct investment, of which 80 per cent came from Japanese investors.

Hideo Ohkubo, chairman of the global promotion committee for small and medium enterprises of the Tokyo Business Association, said the aging demographics in Japan has narrowed down the domestic market.

Several export industries in Japan have stagnated because of continuous appreciation of the yen, a sharp decline in international competitiveness of Japan compared to other countries in Asia and the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami last year.

"Up to 97.3 per cent of the 220,000 SMEs in the manufacturing industry in Japan do their business at home and are not used to investing abroad," he said.

India, Indonesia and Thailand have developed industrial zones that meet the conditions of Japanese investors. Even recently opened up Myanmar has accepted to build Japanese-style industrial parks to lure investors, he added.

He recommended that Viet Nam turn its industrial parks into small cities to attract FDI from Japanese SMEs.

Masahiko Koumura, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, said: "Japanese firms want to make contributions to Viet Nam's economic development, based on a win-win co-operation between the two countries. Viet Nam needs to improve its investment environment to become an appealing destination for Japanese investors."

Tran Duy Dong, deputy head of the Economic Zone Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI), said as of December last year, there were 283 industrial parks in 58 provinces and cities nationwide, attracting more than 4,113 FDI projects with a capital investment of $59.6 billion.

However, up to 35 per cent of the space remained unoccupied, he said, adding Viet Nam wanted to get connected to Japan's overseas investment strategy to fill up these industrial parks.

He said investment projects in the manufacturing sector and infrastructure projects in industrial parks would receive preferential treatments.

In its industrial park development policies in the coming time, the Vietnamese Government will offer preferential policies to businesses who invest in building houses for workers or wastewater treatment plants in industrial parks. The incentives will include free land lease, corporate income tax breaks, preferential credit and import tax exemptions.

According to the nation's development plan, by 2015, 212 new industrial parks will be set up by 2020, covering an area of 60,000ha.

The total area covered by industrial parks is expected to reach 130,000ha by 2015 and 200,000ha by 2020.

Spike in gas imports mystifies officials

The country spent US$75 million to import 70,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas in February, the General Statistic Office said on Monday.

Accrued during the first two months of the year, total imports reached 142,000 tonnes, worth $142 million, a rise of 216.5 per cent in value and 203.6 per cent in volume over the same period last year.

The import of such a surging volume was said to be unexplainable, because when gas prices on the world market were low, domestic traders imported only 35,000 tonnes. By the time gas prices spiked again, imports doubled.

Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue said the proposal of the Viet Nam Gas Association to reduce the import tax on gas from 5 to 2 per cent would be considered.

Also in these two months, the domestic retail price rose by more than VND70,000 ($3.3) for a 12-kilogram container. The cause of the increase, gas retailers said, was the rising world prices.

The gas price on the world market was estimated at over $1,000 per tonne, higher than January's import price of $921 per tonne and up against the average import price of $802 late last year.

Meanwhile, the Ha Noi Department of Finance reported two companies selling their products at prices not allowed by watchdogs. These include the Van Loc LPG Import – Export Co, which had to pay VND17.5 million ($833) in fines, and the Gia Dinh Gas Co Ltd, VND30 million ($1,428).

A departmental investigation into retailer re-registration for lifting gas prices in January and February resulted in 30 dossiers from local businesses.

The two violating companies are among the five leading firms in terms of local market share.

Hong Kong rice traders seek partners

A mission of more than 40 members of the Hong Kong Rice Merchants Association yesterday began a five-day visit to Viet Nam seeking business opportunities with local exporters.

After a meeting with potential business partners yesterday in HCM City, organised by the Sao Khue Investment and Trade Promotion Organisation, the mission will go on fact-finding trips to rice fields and processing plants.

For Vietnamese businesses, it is an opportunity to find new partners and increase exports to the market.

"Viet Nam has become a very important rice exporting country for Hong Kong. In the past four years, the percentage of Vietnamese rice imported by Hong Kong has dramatically increased from less than 1 per cent in 2007 to almost 30 per cent in 2011. Last year, almost 100,000 metric tonnes of Vietnamese rice was exported to Hong Kong, making up one third of Hong Kong's total imported rice, " said Kenneth Chan, chairman of the Rice Merchants' Association of Hong Kong.

On average, Hong Kong imported 320,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice per year.

He said at present, Viet Nam was the second largest rice exporting country after Thailand. However, the association's members still had limited knowledge about Vietnamese rice and the culture of Viet Nam's rice trading, so this trip would be very useful, he added.

Viet Nam expects to ship 6.5 million tonnes of rice this year.

Banks may trade credit growth quotas

Experts have predicted that commercial banks may mutually transfer credit growth quotas to balance their practical lending situation after the State Bank of Viet Nam allocated different rates of credit growth for banks this year.

Under a State Bank directive issued earlier this month, four credit institutions and bank groups were designated growth rates from zero to 17 per cent based on their health and performance last year.

Specifically, Group A was allocated the highest credit growth of 17 per cent for the year, Group B with 15 per cent, Group C with 8 per cent and Group D with zero per cent.

Sai Gon Tiep thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper quoted DongA Bank's general director Tran Phuong Binh as saying he expected the State Bank to have a flexible policy in managing the allocated quotas.

"While some banks are not allowed to expand credit growth, some may not use up their quotas and may make deals with other banks [to transfer the unused portions], on condition that they can still assure the general credit growth target of the nation and don't affect the general quota of the entire [banking] sector," Binh said.

The newspaper also quoted an anonymous expert as saying the transfer of outstanding loans was familiar in the banking area, in that a bank that wanted to increased outstanding loans could buy debt documents from other banks.

Le Tham Duong from the HCM City Banking University warned that such credit quota transfers could affect the State Bank's supervision and assessment of bank operations as well as efforts to deal with the hot credit growth situation that created liquidity concerns for banks last year.

He noted that the goal of the State Bank when assigning the zero-per-cent credit growth to some commercial banks was to concentrate on restructuring these banks. If the quotas were shared, the State Bank's direction might be off target, he said.

Banks announced as being in Group A include Sacombank, Asia Commercial Bank, Eximbank, Military Bank, Maritime Bank, Mekong Housing Development Bank, VP-Bank, VIBank and Sea-Bank.

DongA Bank was listed in Group B, in addition to Nam A Bank and DaiABank.

No banks were reported to be in the C and D groups

Commercial banks, meanwhile, were submitting reports detailing their lending plans for this year to the State Bank as required.

Binh said DongA Bank's outstanding loans were expected to reach about VND50 trillion (US$2.38 billion) this year, up 13.6 per cent over last year. The bank would give credit priority to production and export activities with a focus on agriculture, handicraft and garment sectors.

The export sector, representing a small part of the bank's total outstanding loans, will enjoy preferential annual interest rates of 16-16.5 per cent on dong loans and 4-4.5 per cent on dollar loans, against deposit rates of 14 and 2 per cent, respectively.

"We will have to enhance checks on the quality of loans and work out ways to recollect debts from customers who show no signs of development or exhibit a tendency to increase bad debts," Binh said, adding that existing customers might not benefit from credit increases.

Earlier, Maritime Bank developed a lending plan to control credit activities to ensure its growth rate would not exceed 17 per cent at any time this year.

VPBank said that although it was classified in Group A, its lending rate for non-production sectors had climbed to 16 per cent so the bank did not plan to offer many personal loans.

Software imported over the internet declared duty-free

The Ministry of Finance issued Official Letter No 1920/BTC-CST on January 16 in response to Official Letter No 3836/BNT-CNTT from the Ministry of Information and Communications regarding import taxes to software.

In its letter, the Ministry of Finance ruled that, if the software is imported in the form of goods containing the software, the software shall be categorized and taxed subject to the tariff applied to such imported goods.

If the software is imported over the internet, i.e., without containers that constitute moveable property under the law, the customs authorities have no legal basis to supervise the importation or apply a tax. However, the trading in software, domestically or offshore, is subject to value-added and income taxes in accordance with the law.

Lubricants deemed subject to environmental taxation

The Ministry of Finance issued Official Letter No 1199/BTC-TCT on January 30, providing guidance on the enforcement of Circular No 152/2011/TT-BTC of November 11, 2011, on environmental protection taxes. Under the letter, the ministry ruled that lubricant was a taxable object of the environmental protection tax. An enterprise importing aircraft equipment or materials accompanied by separately-packaged lubricant must declare and pay environmental protection taxes in accordance with the law. In addition, taxable goods imported to non-tariff area for consumption (not for re-export) shall be subject to environmental protection tax.

State Bank reveals new rules on valuable paper discounts

The State Bank of Viet Nam issued Circular No 01/2012/TT-NHNN on February 16 on discounting of valuable papers of the State Bank for credit institutions and branches of foreign banks.

Valuable papers eligible to be discounted must be denominated in domestic currency, assignable, in the legal possession of the credit institutions and branches of foreign banks, and not issued by the credit institutions and branches of foreign banks. If valuable papers are discounted for their entire remaining term, the maximum remaining term of such valuable papers shall be 91 days.

Credit institutions and branches of foreign banks eligible to participate in discount operations of the State Bank must not be under special control, must not be in default on any debts, and must have an active account opened at an authorised branch of the State Bank. They must submit a timely request dossier to the State Bank, and the valuable papers to be discounted must comform with statutory conditions and be included on the list of discountable valuable papers periodically promulgated by State Bank.

Not later than the 15th day of the first month of each quarter, credit institutions and branches of foreign banks shall submit to a request dossier to the State Bank serving as the basis for the State Bank to determine the approved discount limit to such credit institutions and branches of foreign banks in that quarter.

Upon maturity, if credit institutions and branches of foreign banks fail to pay or make insufficient payment to recover valuable papers, their accounts at the State Bank shall be deducted to recover the debt, and their valuable papers in the custody of the State shall be subject to sale. Such credit institutions and branches of foreign banks will also lose their eligibility to participate in discount operations with the State Bank for six months.

This circular takes effect on March 31, replacing Decision No 898/2003/QD-NHNN of August 2003, Decision No 12/2008/QD-NHNN of April 2008, and Article 1 of Circular 26/2011/TT-NHNN of August 2011.

Tienphong launches lending deal

Tien Phong Commercial JSC Bank (TienPhongBank) has launched an incentive lending package worth VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million) for clients who invest and manufacture machinery, high-tech products and export goods.

With interest rates of 15-18 per cent per year, the package is expected to supplement small and medium sized enterprises, especially those operating in the technology field, in capital sources to improve their product quality and competitiveness.

Luxury complex planned in capital

Tan Hoang Minh Group and Ha Noi Housing Management and Development Company unveiled plans for a luxury residential complex on Ha Noi's Nguyen Van Huyen Street in Cau Giay District.

The VND4 trillion (US$190.5 million) building will cover a ground area of 4,800 sq.m. Prices are estimated to reach VND100 million (US$4,700) per sq.m.

The D'Palais de Louis will be 27 storeys tall with an additional four floors underground. It will offer 242 residential apartments ranging from 120-260 sq.m.

Tan Hoang Minh said the building, which will have two swimming pools and two service centres in the lobby, would be completed and available for sales by 2014.-

UK wants to raise trade ties with Vietnam

The United Kingdom considers Vietnam a potential emerging economy and a key trade partner in the context of the global economic slowdown, says Consul General in HCM City Douglas Branes.

Branes said during his new working term he will continue developing relations with local and central administrations, establishing links between UK and Vietnamese businesses, and promoting the public-private partnership network in Hanoi and HCM City.    

In an interview granted to Vietnam Investment Review, Branes, who is also director of the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in Vietnam, said top priority will be given to raising two-way trade between the UK and Vietnam to US$4 billion and UK investment in Vietnam to US$3 billion in 2013.

To do this, he said he will oversee the increase in trade and investment between the two countries, and encourages UK companies to explore Vietnam as a potential market with numerous business opportunities.

According to the diplomat, in addition to education, there is plenty of opportunity for UK businesses to invest in oil & gas, agriculture, construction, financial services, and information technology.

French keen on Vietnam’s plastics and packing industries

Ten French companies are traveling to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from February 28 - March 2 to examine the plastics and packing industries in Vietnam.

The trip, organised by the French Trade Commission in Vietnam (UBIFRANCE), will enable the French businesses to improve their understanding of Vietnam’s policies and business opportunities through meetings with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Plastics, Rubber and Packing Association.

Visits to industrial sites are also planned throughout the country, including a plant operated by the French group Arkema, near Ho Chi Minh City.

These companies are expected to offer advanced technologies and services to prospective Vietnamese partners with more than 50 business meetings already scheduled. This will help develop sustainable commercial, industrial and technological partnerships.

They will have more opportunities to make new contacts during their visit to Vietnam’s 2012 Plastics & Rubber Exhibition and the 2012 International Processing, Filling and Packaging Exhibition with 210 exhibitors and 7,000 visitors.

Laos honours Vietnamese investors

Lao President Choummaly Sayasone has awarded the Labour Order to a number of Vietnamese investors, who are all directors of the Long Thanh-Vientiane special economic zone in Laos.

A ceremony to present the awards was held in Vientiane on February 27 in the presence of a number of senior Lao officials.

Laos’ Labour Order, second class, was presented to Le Van Kiem, President of the Board of Directors of the Long Thanh-Vientiane special economic zone, while General Director Tran Cam Nhung and Deputy General Director Le Huy Hoang received the Labour Order, third class.

At the ceremony, the President of the Laos War Veterans’ Association, Major General Somphon Keomysay, said that Kiem was honoured for his great contributions to charitable activities in Laos as well as for the construction of the special economic zone over the last few years.

Kiem and his family have taken part in humanitarian campaigns to support poor Lao war veterans, and the victims of natural disasters, built schools in poor areas and helped to combat epidemics.

Kiem, who served as a Vietnamese volunteer soldier in Laos during the last war, expressed his thanks to the Lao government for creating favourable conditions for the Long Thanh-Vientiane special economic zone to be built and said he will continue to help boost Vietnam-Laos relations.

Hanoi focuses on developing high-tech agriculture

Hanoi will assist organizations and individuals in developing farming production with policies in building infrastructure, investing in processing plants and applying high technologies and scientific advances in 2012-2016.

These policies aim to achieve higher productivity, quality, effectiveness and food safety, according to the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project is expected to be carried out within five years with a total investment of VND 8,442 billion, including VND 3,502 billion to be used for agriculture production and VND 4,830 billion for building fundamental infrastructure in 161 communes.

These policies are expected to make breakthroughs in the capital’s agriculture in the future, said Chairman of the Hanoi’s People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao.

It will also help increase income for people living in rural areas and narrow the development gap between rural and urban areas in Hanoi, he added.

The agricultural encouragement policies will create an ecological agriculture for the capital, produce high-quality products, meet demands for food hygiene and protect the environment.

Experts look for answer for capital shortage of food traders

Agricultural enterprises always cry out over capital shortage and demand support from the Government when entering harvest season, even though farm produce exports generate huge amount of earnings every year for them.

The Mekong Delta is entering harvest season of the winter-spring rice crop while cashew is being harvested in the southeast region. This is when prices of these farm produce are at low and enterprises start to bemoan capital shortage.

Le Van Banh, head of the Mekong Delta Rice Institute, said some 1.5 million hectares of the winter-spring rice is cultivated in the delta this year, supplying 11 million tons of paddy, or six million tons of rice, including 3-4 million tons of commercial rice. Such a big supply quickly drags down rice prices, especially when farmers lack facilities to store their produce.

Trading enterprises often do not buy farm produce at the beginning of the harvest season but hesitate to push prices down. When farmers call for help from the Government, enterprises also seek support to buy goods for temporary storage, said Banh.

He told the Daily a rumor that some farm produce exporters earned hefty profits of VND1-3 trillion last year. If this is the case, it proves that enterprises are not short of capital.

Professor Vo Tong Xuan, an agricultural expert, ascribed the questioned capital shortage of agricultural enterprises to their monopoly position. Such a position allows them to control farm produce prices and associate benefits with one another, leaving farmers with the biggest losses, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Dang Kim Son, director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), said the fact that enterprises complain about capital shortage has existed for a long time. There must be some problems in operation of farm produce exporters, associations or government’s policies, he stated.

IPSARD will conduct a research on this issue to find the answer so that farmers will not incur more losses, said Son.

For farmers to benefit from the government’s supporting policies, Professor Xuan said the cooperation among farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists and the Government must be reorganized.

“Farmers must be considered a part of enterprises through buying stakes in enterprises. Enterprises must see farmers the material zone managers to invest in inputs such as varieties and fertilizers and produce high-quality rice to compete directly with India and Pakistan, the countries with advantages in low-grade rice,” said Xuan.
 
U.S. communication firm enters Vietnam

The U.S.-based public relations firm Edelman on Monday announced its penetration into the Vietnamese market by buying stake of local partner AVC Communications after 18 months of negotiations.

Richard Edelman, chairman or chief executive officer of Edelman, did not reveal the deal value but said that the firm would hold a majority stake after agreement went through regulatory approval.

The investment of Edelman is currently waiting for approval from the local authorities, and the new firm will be named AVC Edelman.

The merger with a local partner is the fastest way for Edelman to penetrate the Vietnamese market, said Edelman. Moreover, Vietnam has the highest potential of short- and medium-term growths in Southeast Asia.

The scale of Vietnam’s communication industry has increased by three times over the past five years when multinational groups and local firms tend to shift from advertising to integrated marketing which includes communication, public relations and social networks.

Bui Ngoc Anh, founder of AVC, said public relations was still a young industry in Vietnam, and the partnership with Edelman would help AVC make use of experiences, skills and the wide network of this U.S. firm

Local public relations firms have now tended to merge with foreign firms to increase the professionalism in this sector.

Edelman Co., founded in 1952, is currently having 60 offices with 4,000 employees worldwide.

In addition to helping multinational firms develop their brand names in Vietnam, Edelman will also help promote brand names of Vietnamese products in foreign markets, said Edelman.
 
Disease outbreaks threaten this year’s shrimp crop

A vast shrimp farming area in the Mekong Delta in the last two months has been badly damaged with mortality rates of 30-70% following 2011’s loss-making shrimp crop due to diseases.

The mortality rate is set to rise further to unprecedented levels with the worst ever disease outbreak likely to hit the delta this year, said agriculture officials at a meeting last Friday on disease scenarios for this year’s shrimp crop.

The content of plantation protection drugs goes beyond permitted levels in shrimp farming areas in the provinces of Bac Lieu and Soc Trang, according to testing results conducted by a southern plantation protection drug-testing center. It forecasts that huge numbers of baby shrimp will die after just 15 days.

Soc Trang Province so far has started a shrimp crop on around 1,500 hectares but one-third has incurred complete losses, said Nguyen Van Khoi, deputy head of the local agriculture department.

Bac Lieu Province reported the same scenario as Soc Trang, said Phan Thi Thu Oanh, deputy head of the local agriculture department.

The average death rate of baby shrimps of less than 45 days old was 70% in a shrimp cultivation area in Ca Mau province, said Nguyen Van Trung, deputy head of aquaculture division under the local agriculture department.

One-tenth of the 600 hectares of shrimp growing area in Tra Vinh Province in the year to date have died from diseases, said the local agriculture department.

The recent climate change situation and contaminated water resources are the two key causes of the current epidemic, according to the Research Institute of Aquaculture No. 2.

At the meeting, it was noted that shrimp farmers still go ahead as normal to start their crops despite warnings from competent authorities against the disease, according to a representative of local agriculture departments in the delta.

The warnings are not strong enough for farmers to take into consideration. It seems shrimp farmers tend to follow technical advice from aquaculture feed and drug producers, who exaggerate the functions of their products, said Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, agriculture deputy minister.