VietNamNet Bridge – The draft decree of pecuniary penalty on
the violations in seafood trade says the fine of up to VND100 million would be
imposed on the institutions which join forces with foreign merchants to collect
aquatic materials in the domestic market.
If the draft decree gets
approved, this will be for the first time the punishment for the behavior like
that to be legalized.
The new regulation has been
applauded by domestic seafood companies, which many times complained that they
have been thirsty for materials because they cannot scramble for materials with
foreign merchants.
Tran Van Linh, General Director
of Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trade Company, has noted that the new punishment
regulation would certainly help prevent foreign merchants from scrambling for
aquatic materials with domestic seafood companies, thus helping ease domestic
enterprises’ thirst for materials.
Foreign merchants have been
flocking to Vietnam to collect aquatic materials directly from fishermen at the
ports, especially in the central region.
Most of them are from China. They
have been collecting all the things they can, from cheap small fishes for
animal feed, to shrimp, crabs and tunas. In order to compete with domestic
enterprises, Chinese merchants accept to offer higher prices to fishermen.
As a result, Vietnam’s aquatic
materials have been “bleeding” across the border, while domestic enterprises
don’t have materials to keep production. A report by the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said Vietnamese enterprises have to
import 60-70 percent of materials needed for their production.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Duc,
Director of De Khang Phu Thanh Seafood Processing Company, said not only
Chinese, but the merchants from Australia, South Korea and Taiwan have also
come to scramble for materials.
At the ports in Quy Nhon City in
Binh Dinh province and Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan, foreign merchants can collect
many tons of tunas in front of Vietnamese enterprises. Since foreign merchants
pay higher prices, Vietnamese fishermen prefer selling fishes to them instead
of Vietnamese companies.
Tran Thien Hai, Chair of the
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said the new
regulation would benefit Vietnamese fishermen as well.
Vietnamese fishermen many times
tasted the bitterness from doing business with Chinese merchants, who ordered
big amounts of products but did not come back to get deliveries, or they ran
away after receiving products without making payment.
However, though applauding the
new regulation, many exporters have said they are not sure if the regulation
can be implemented, because it would be very difficult to find out the
evidences to prove that domestic merchants join forces with foreign merchants
to collect materials.
According to Linh from Thuan
Phuoc Company, most foreign merchants come to Vietnam as travelers. They do not
choose aquatic materials themselves, but they do this through Vietnamese
merchants.
Therefore, Linh said, competent
agencies would have no reason to punish fishermen, because they sell products
to Vietnamese. It would be impossible to punish Vietnamese merchants, because
they always make verbal agreements instead of written contracts. Meanwhile, if
foreign merchants say they don’t have money to pay fines, they would simply be
expelled from Vietnam.
Deputy Chair of Ca Mau province
Le Dung has also expressed his worry that it’s difficult to punish the
violators who are always very crafty. However, Dung thinks that the heavy
punishment would, to some extent, deter the violators.
PL TPHCM
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