Nine years after sturgeon was first introduced for experimental farming in Vietnam, the fish is now being farmed across all three regions of the country, with the largest production concentrated in Lam Dong Province.
Mr. Tran Van Hao, Chairman of the Vietnam Cold-Water Fish Development Association, said: “Sturgeon production in 2013 is expected to reach 900 tons, of which Lam Dong will account for 450 tons, the northern mountainous provinces 250 tons, and the southern region and Central Highlands (excluding Lam Dong) 240 tons.”
Sturgeon is a specialty product that is popular with consumers, and farmers have been making profits from raising it. However, dozens of tons of Chinese sturgeon are now being smuggled into Vietnam every day and distributed to provinces and cities through various channels. In some cases, air transport has even been used to facilitate the trade. With prices only one-third of those of domestically produced sturgeon, the influx has left numerous domestic businesses and farmers struggling to survive before the industry has even had a chance to fully develop.
According to Mr. Hao: “Every day, two to three tons of sturgeon of unknown origin are smuggled into Ho Chi Minh City through Tan Son Nhat Airport and sold on the market for only around VND 120,000–130,000 per kilogram, far below the price of domestically produced sturgeon. On average, about 600–700 tons of sturgeon are smuggled into our country each year.”
However, Mr. Le Anh Duc, General Director of Vietnam Sturgeon Group, said the actual figure could be eight times higher, reaching 4,000–5,000 tons, with the southern market accounting for around 60–70% of consumption.
“Vietnamese sturgeon cannot compete on price with smuggled Chinese sturgeon because the smuggled fish are raised industrially using feed with high growth-promoting content, allowing them to be raised for only six months, whereas Vietnamese sturgeon requires at least 12–18 months to reach market size. In addition, Vietnamese businesses use either imported feed or domestically produced feed costing between US$1.50 and US$3 per kilogram,” Mr. Duc added.
At a meeting between the Vietnam Cold-Water Fish Development Association, Vietnamese sturgeon businesses and farmers, and the press in Hanoi on July 7, 2013, Mr. Tran Yen, Director of the Northwest Aquaculture Joint Stock Company (Lai Chau), expressed his frustration:
“In early May 2013, Chu Va Hydropower Joint Stock Company, based in Son Binh Commune, Tam Duong District, Lai Chau Province, established a facility to raise salmon and sturgeon and then illegally imported fingerlings from China for farming. More notably, the company brought Chinese nationals to Vietnam to directly raise the fish in a suspicious manner.
“After discovering the incident, I reported it from the commune level to the district level and then to the Director of the Lai Chau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Three days later, the department director still had not given any response, so I wrote a letter to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam.
“Ten days later, an inspection team from the Directorate of Fisheries’ legal affairs division came directly to Lai Chau to investigate. On May 27, I asked the Directorate of Fisheries to respond to the matter, but the Directorate said it had no opinion because… it had not yet collected all the necessary opinions.”
Vietnamese sturgeon faces difficulties competing with smuggled Chinese sturgeon — Photo: Nam Anh
Dissatisfied with that response, on May 29 I sent a petition to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat. On June 11, I received a letter-transfer form from the Directorate of Fisheries. It stated:
“On June 10, 2013, the Directorate of Fisheries received a letter addressed to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat from Mr. Tran Yen, a salmon farmer and forestry grower in Lai Chau on the Hoang Lien Son mountain pass. Pursuant to Article 7 of the 2011 Law on Complaints and Article 20 of the 2011 Law on Denunciations, the Directorate of Fisheries hereby forwards this letter to the Director of the Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct clarification and resolve the matter within its authority, and to report the results to the Directorate of Fisheries.”
“The incident happened in Lai Chau, but the Directorate of Fisheries forwarded it to Long An Province for resolution. In this case, we will probably have to wait a long time, because how could people from the Mekong Delta travel thousands of kilometers to Hoang Lien Son in time?” Mr. Tran Yen lamented, referring to what he described as the “one-of-a-kind” transfer form.
Passing the Responsibility Around
The influx of smuggled Chinese sturgeon into Vietnam not only paralyzes the domestic sturgeon distribution network and threatens the survival of producers, potentially leaving thousands of farmers without jobs, but also poses a threat to consumer health. More broadly, it could extinguish Vietnam’s young but promising sturgeon-farming industry. Yet to date, no agency has stepped forward to say what should be done or how the problem should be stopped.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Cu, Director of Viet Duc Investment and Trading Co., Ltd. (a company specializing in the production and trading of market-size sturgeon in Tam Dao District, Vinh Phuc Province), said that the company can now do little more than wait, as numerous petitions and official documents have already been sent to the relevant authorities.
Many cold-water fish farmers believe that 100% of the sturgeon transported from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is carried by air. Otherwise, given the climate and geographical distance involved, the fish would simply die during transportation.
Therefore, Mr. Duc argued: “Monitoring air transport is very easy and would be the most effective and least labor-intensive way to control the smuggling of sturgeon. We have many land-border entry points where smuggling can take place, whereas air transport has only one major gateway, Noi Bai Airport. Moreover, apparently only Vietnam Airlines is authorized to transport live fresh products. Therefore, if veterinary authorities simply coordinate with the airline to conduct inspections, the problem would immediately become apparent.
“However, when we spoke with aviation authorities, they told us: ‘What fish? There are no fish being flown from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.’”
At the same time, a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam confirmed that no veterinary quarantine checkpoint had yet been established at the airport because the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had not yet worked with the Civil Aviation Authority on the matter.
A Level Playing Field Is Needed
Some opinions suggest that cheap Chinese sturgeon should be allowed to enter Vietnam more freely in order to increase competition and give Vietnamese consumers more choices.
Mr. Le Anh Duc said:
“We welcome fair competition as long as imported products comply with the law and clearly state their origin and provenance when placed on the market. Consumers are ultimately the ones who decide which products to buy.
“However, we oppose smuggled Chinese sturgeon because it goes through none of the required quarantine or customs procedures. After being brought into Vietnam, these products are then ‘disguised’ as sturgeon farmed in Vietnam. This causes serious confusion for consumers.”
Agreeing with Mr. Duc, Mr. Cu stated:
“Even if the goods are of good quality, if they are smuggled, they are still smuggled goods. If we allow smuggled products to exist, Vietnam’s sturgeon industry will certainly die prematurely because it cannot compete. But if the products are officially imported and subjected to all applicable taxes and procedures, we are confident that we can compete.”
>> Is Most Sturgeon Sold at Metro in Northern Vietnam Smuggled?
Mr. Le Anh Duc, General Director of Vietnam Sturgeon Group, revealed:
“Currently, most sturgeon products displayed for sale at the Metro supermarket chain in northern Vietnam and at some other supermarkets originate from smuggled imports from China. Vietnam Sturgeon Group supplies only three retail systems, in Binh Dinh, Nha Trang, and Ho Chi Minh City.
“In addition, according to the Vietnam Cold-Water Fish Development Association, northern Vietnam’s sturgeon production is no more than 30–40 tons per month, while Metro’s consumption is 50–70 tons per month.”
Mr. Nguyen Trong Cu, Director of Viet Duc Investment and Trading Co., Ltd., affirmed:
“I am the only supplier of sturgeon fingerlings in northern Vietnam, so I know who is capable of supplying the fish. Furthermore, consumers have the right to question Metro about the origin of its products. Simply doing that would make it possible to verify whether the above information is accurate or not.”
