Vietnam Overseas

Anna Boiko-Weyrauch | Bayou La Batre, Alabama 04 June 2010

With large sections of the Gulf of Mexico still closed to fishing due to the massive oil leak, workers in the seafood industry have been hurt all along the southern coast of the United States.

A large portion of workers in Alabama’s seafood capital originally hail from Southeast Asia, and they face cultural barriers that make coping with the disaster even more difficult.

Long process

It’s 6:45 a.m., and hundreds of people are lined up in front of BP’s compensation office in the small Alabama town of Bayou La Batre.

They are filing claims of lost income so they can get $5,000 from the giant oil company to pay their bills.

The air is humid and a breeze rolls in from the sea.

Sue Athanasay brought her grandkids and some plastic chairs to sit in while they wait. It’s a long wait. They got in line at four in the morning and the office won’t open until seven.

Athanasay, originally from Laos, plans to file paperwork for her pregnant daughter, who works in a crab processing plant.

A one-third of residents in Bayou La Batre is from Southeast Asia. Many of them work processing seafood caught in the Gulf of Mexico. In a refrigerated workshop, employees from Laos and Thailand in blue aprons crack crab shells over and over for up to 12 hours a day.

Lost income

Von Wessen, who came to Alabama from Laos when she was three years old, explains that processing the seafood is a skill.

“You have to learn it because if you don’t do it right you’ll have a lot of bones and a lot of broken pieces.”

She and the other workers are paid by the pound of crab meat they clean from the shells, not by the hour. With fewer crabs coming in, it means less money for them.

“This is like our peak season,” she says, “so usually we’ll be working a full day. And we’re only working a few hours, like five or six hours. So it’s cut our income down significantly.”

Employees, many from Laos and Thailand, crack crab shells for up to 12 hours a day in Bayou La Batre, Alabama.

Language barrier limits opportunity

With income down, many are applying for compensation from BP, or signing on to help clean up the oil spill.

But all the forms and training are in English, so Wesson and her peers have been translating more and more for older members of the community. “In one way or another, they’ve helped me throughout the years, so I don’t mind helping them back,” she says.

Many immigrants on the coast struggle to communicate in English.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang heads Boat People SOS, an organization that advocates for Southeast Asians in the United States.

He says a lot of people who fled here after the Vietnam War eventually ended up in the seafood industry on the Gulf of Mexico.

“They figure out that this is among the very few jobs that they can find employment in,” says Thang. “Because they don’t speak English that well and therefore they don’t have too many choices.”

Thang points out that poor English skills make it harder for Southeast Asian immigrants to leave town and transition into other jobs.

“They may not even qualify for job training programs and placement programs and most of them don’t have any relatives around here or across the country so most of them are kind of stuck here.”

Bleak outlook

Kimchi Thai is facing that bleak prospect.

She came to the U.S. from Vietnam 19 years ago. She works on her uncle’s shrimping boat, supporting her children and her mother. Now, with no fishing allowed, she is out of work.

Thai doesn’t know how to keep going when most of her knowledge revolves around seafood and the ocean. She wants to know how is she supposed to find another job with no other skills.

Thai says all she can do is just wait to see if help will come. She filed a compensation claim with BP, getting a friend to help her with the English-only forms.

Uncertain future

The U.S. seafood industry has been declining for a number of years now, according to Thang of Boat People SOS. He says competition from imported seafood and rising fuel costs have made it harder and harder for people to make a living from the ocean.

“This catastrophe expedites that process,” he says. “We’ve been thinking of finding alternatives to jobs in the fishing industry. We haven’t found the solution yet but we’ve been working on it even before the oil spill.”

Back in the crab factory, Von Wesson slices into a small red crab with a sharp knife and hopes for the best. “With the oil spill, we don’t know the effect of it yet. It’s not like a hurricane, you know, you get to see the effect right away. It might affect us for years and we just don’t know it yet.”

For many workers, the only choice is to wait and see what happens. Right now, the future and livelihoods of this community are as murky as the crude oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Date : 22/06/2010

The weakening of the euro against the dong and most other hard currencies may make Vietnamese exports to the eurozone less competitive, Vietnamese producers fear.

The depreciation of Europe’s single currency, which means European consumers have to spend more on buying imported products, may slash purchasing power in the market and thus affect the negotiation of contracts, they said.

The euro has depreciated some 15 per cent against the US dollar in the first six months of this year due to the European debt crisis.

In Vietnam, the currency, which slightly rose early this week to around VND23,000, has depreciated by about VND400 from May and VND4,000 compared with early this year.

As a result, Vietnamese commodities bound for Europe have become more expensive, despite their unchanged US dollar prices. Some European importers have asked Vietnamese traders to reduce their prices.

“Negotiations of export contracts [to the eurozone market] have become more difficult, and some have been delayed,” the director of a woodwork firm in Bac Ninh province said. Up to 70 per cent of his firm’s products are shipped to the European Union (EU).

Worried that the euro depreciation may continue, some European importers do not want to sign big contracts with long delivery terms, he said.

Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said depreciation of the euro has partly hurt exports to the European market, which accounts for some 26 per cent of Vietnam’s seafood shipment value.

While the average growth of Vietnamese seafood exports in the first four months of this year was 20 per cent, that of exports to the eurozone market was 17 per cent, Hoe said.

Tran Thien Linh, director of seafood producer Thuan Phuoc in Da Nang City, said export prices to the EU have reduced by some 10 per cent since the beginning of this year.

Exporters who want to boost sales to the market would thus have to accept lower benefits, or even losses, Linh said.

Nguyen Van Ky, general director of seafood producer Agifish, said the pressure of lower prices in the EU has made the price of tra fish on the domestic market fall by some 6 per cent to under VND16,000 ($0.8) per kilogram.

The weakened euro has also made it difficult for garments and textile producers to penetrate big markets. Le Quoc An, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said garment exporters may be negatively affected by the depreciation in terms of competitiveness, as most garment export contracts now are paid in US dollars.

Diep Thanh Kiet, vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Garments, Textile, Embroidery and Knitting, estimated that Vietnamese companies would incur a loss of between 0.5 euro and 0.75 euro for every shirt exported to the EU at 5 euro each.

According to economists, the euro continues to drop against the dollar as there are no signs the debt situation in Europe will ease. The euro is predicted to drop further towards the end of the year to $1.06 per euro.

As a result, European importers would want to have a new price agreement that may leave Vietnamese exporters at a disadvantage, according to a recent report by the Sacombank Securities Company.

The report called for ’suitable solutions’ to support exports to the eurozone market. Not all bad

Despite difficulties, the situation is not too serious, some experts say.

Pham Hong Hai, a senior executive of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Group HSBC, said the depreciation of the euro has benefited Vietnamese individuals who need euros to pay for tourism, healthcare and overseas studies in Europe.

An of Vitas said the weakening euro may benefit importers making payments in euro. Now, Vietnam has to import over 80 per cent of its materials for textile and garment production.

Meanwhile, Pham Quang Dieu, director of Agromonitor, a research firm, said that to deal with difficulties caused by euro depreciation, firms should focus more on non-traditional markets, and emerging ones such as Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Middle East and China.

Hoe of VASEP said the recent oil spill in the US will make seafood prices go up, so firms should take full advantage of the opportunities to boost exports to this market.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

Each year Americans consume about 580-600 thousands tons of shrimp and kinds, of which 90% of shrimp consumed are imported, about 8% of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico and a small 2% coming from inland areas to exploit other .

The explosion of oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon on 04/20/2010 was causing great damage to the fishing of shrimp and oysters, two kinds of fish caught by the U.S. government in this area. By June 2010, 32% of the area fishing waters in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp was banned by the authorities concerned the oil spread affecting the sanitary quality of shrimp caught.

The ban led to supply shrimp fishing in the Gulf of significant losses, pushing prices up. By early June 2010, prices of all kinds of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico has increased from 40-45% in January compared with the time and about 30% over time in April, when oil spills occur.

The increase in price despite a very strong but it is worth mentioning, in late 2009 - early 2010, the price of shrimp fishing in the Gulf are in the lowest interval within a year. Two important reason leading to the reduced price of shrimp catch is affected by economic crisis and strong competition from imported shrimp found that American consumers are increasingly popular. With the proportion of occupied not more, about 8% of total U.S. shrimp consumers, price increases can tell from the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishing increased continuously from early 2010 until now from the main reason is the price of shrimp has been down low, are on the rebound and was fueled by oil spill events on the Gulf of Mexico. Compared to the price gulf shrimp in the first half of 2009, half the price of shrimp in 2010 only higher about 10-15%.

Due to shortage of supply from the Gulf of Mexico shrimp, buyers are looking for alternative sources of products from the west coast of Mexico. Due to increased demand, the price of shrimp from the western coast of Mexico has also increased. Compared with before the oil spill occurred, to May 6 / 2010, from the west coast of Mexico shrimp prices increase by 15-20%, but compared with the average price six months of 2009, the average price 6 months beginning in 2010 virtually unchanged.

U.S. shrimp imports in 2010 the first months

The first four months of 2010, U.S. shrimp imports reached 147.9 thousand tons, the value reached 1.03 billion USD, down 4% in volume and 2.5% in value over the same period in 2009. Since oil spills occur, along with the signal of economic recovery and falling supply, prices of shrimp imported into the U.S. market has increased by around 50-10%.

U.S. shrimp imports from Thailand, the largest market share in imports of goods, up 16.4% in volume and 15.5% in value. Meanwhile, U.S. shrimp imports from Vietnam 3.3% decrease in volume, up 2.3% in value. Although the pressure off the effects of the economic crisis but Thai shrimp export prices tend to be more stable price of shrimp in Vietnam and the recovery stronger than Vietnam shrimp prices in the months 2010.Compare prices lobster shell, except for tail processing - have found relatively similar rates for shrimp caught from the Gulf of Mexico - in Thailand and Vietnam to the U.S. five months in 2010, along with an increase of and overall export value, can see that the Thais utilize the period of economic recovery and low shrimp prices effects from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill better than the Vietnamese.

Opportunities for Vietnam shrimp after oil spills?

Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is considered the most severe consequences to date and time troubleshooting has not yet been determined. Therefore, the effects on catches of shrimp caught in Monday lasted from August to December every year difficult to assess accurately. However, due to the effects of oil spills are inevitable, seafood imports to offset the shortage of domestic supply will increase.

To seize the opportunity to take over this part, the exporters should note two issues. First, because the psychological impact consumers found that shrimp caught from the Gulf does not guarantee food safety, consumers become more sensitive to these problems and more highly valued products safety and convenience.

Monday, although experts say the price of shrimp caught from the Gulf of Mexico is the trend likely to increase by about long-term supply of shrimp from this region continue to decline, but before the competition of the product imported products, price increases will push consumers to use products of equal quality and price more reasonable. This will be an opportunity for foreign shrimp exporters to compete and dominate the market share of 8% that shrimp caught from the Gulf of Mexico currently hold.

In short, the Thais are shown the ability to better understand the Vietnamese market.However, if the Vietnamese exporters advanced imaging safety and quality of food hygiene in the eyes of U.S. consumers - is increasingly concerned about seafood safety and quality of the oil spills and quality shrimp imports - and maintain competitive prices, Vietnam shrimp export market shares may be higher than the U.S. market.

Source: Agroviet

The oil spill in the US has pushed up prices of shrimp and other kinds of seafood. Vietnamese seafood exporters believe that Vietnam’s target of exporting $4.5 billion in seafood in 2010 is now within reach.

The worst oil spill case in the history of the US has resulted in sharp price increases of shrimp and shrimp-related food products worldwide.

According to Urner Barry, a food price researcher, the price of shrimp made in the US has increased by 40 percent to $6.2 per pound (a pound is equal to 0.454 kilos) since the oil spill. Food companies and restaurants have been trying to buy more shrimp to store in fear that the prices will increase further.

Currently, the US remains the biggest consumer of shrimp and crab in the world. The average consumption level per capita in the US has increased from 0.64 kilos to 1.86 kilos in 2008. Besides domestically-sourced products, the US imports shrimp from countries in the Gulf of Mexico, plus other countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

Some analysts speculate that the oil spill is not the only reason driving up shrimp prices. They point out that the global shrimp output has decline sharply since last year, due to epidemics in Asia and bad weather in many areas. The shrimp price in the US, in fact, had already increased by 15 percent by April 20, when the oil spill took place. Meanwhile, the shrimp price in Japan has also increased by 18 percent so far this year.

More opportunities for Vietnam

Truong Dinh Hoe, Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), is staying optimistic about Vietnam’s seafood exports for 2010. He noted that the Russian market has recovered strongly after many renovations in payment procedures. US demand will also rise as a result of the oil spill, which will make their domestic seafood output drop.

Hoe went on to explain that, besides traditional markets, exports to American countries are also expected to increase in 2010. Additionally, North Africa and the Middle East have also proven to be markets with great potential.

“If Vietnam can maintain its current growth rate, the target of $4.5 billion worth of seafood export revenue in 2010 will be within reach,” Hoe predicted.

In the first five months of 2010, Vietnam’s total seafood export revenue had reached $1.62 billion, an increase of 17.3 percent in comparison with the same period of 2009. Especially, frozen shrimp exports increased by 29.5 percent compared with the same period last year. The EU, China and South Korea remains the biggest export markets for Vietnamese shrimp exporters.

Tra and basa fish exports, while facing difficulties due to the euro’s depreciation against the dollar, still welcomed the satisfactory growth rate of 12.3 percent. The US remains the second biggest importer of Vietnam’s tra fish and shrimp.

Vietnam has exported 13,000 tons of tra fish to the US so far this year, reaping $40 million. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s tuna exports to the US and Canada have increased by 500 percent in comparison with the same period of 2009. The export price has also become more attractive, averaging $3.83 per kilo.

The shrimp price has also climbing in the domestic market. In Ca Mau province, black tiger shrimp sells at between 140,000 dong per kilo (30 shrimp per kilo) and 180,000 dong (20 shrimp per kilo). Meanwhile, white leg shrimp trade at 54,000 dong per kilo (100 shrimp per kilo).