Fish marketing in Viet Nam: current situation and perspectives for development

Dr Erhard Ruckes,
Senior Fishery Industry Officer, FAO
with assistance from
Mr Nguyen Viet Dang
Consultant

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Since the early 1980s, Viet Nam’s fisheries sector has shown remarkable changes. This started with policies on marketing improvement; export promotion and enhancement of product value. The fisheries sector is recognised as a key economic sector with an annual contribution of 4-5 percent of the national GDP, 9-10 percent of the national export turnover and the creation of employment for the millions national labour force.

Currently, the fisheries sector has integrated with the national market economy. However, an understanding of how market mechanisms operate within the sector is still limited as there is little available market and marketing information on the fisheries sector. Most of the current market information available on fisheries focuses on fisheries exports. There has been little research carried out in the field of fish marketing in general. Although there are some individual, often donor funded, projects that carried out small research studies on domestic consumption and marketing of fish, consumer behaviour and preferences.

Since November, 2001 the project on Fish Marketing and Credit in Viet Nam (MTF/VIE/025/Misc) was implemented for one year by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the financial assistance of the DANIDA FSPS. The project comprises four main subcomponents, which cover issues related to fish marketing, credit for fish marketing, vertical chains cooperation in fish marketing, and finally economic modelling for fish marketing development. The main purpose of the project was to fill the current gap in information on the marketing of fishery products in Viet Nam to support the Ministry of Fisheries, institutions and donors active in the sector to address the needs of the sector better and support the decision-making processes in the sector.

This report relating to fish marketing issues was prepared with the following consideration in mind:

• Various types of marketing agents are involved in the marketing channels from primary producers to final consumers. They include fish farmers, fisherfolk, wholesalers, processors, exporters, retailers and institutional consumers. However, understanding of the roles these actors have in fish marketing and information on how they are organized, how they mobilize labour for fisheries, what available internal resources are still limited. The lack of information makes it difficult for planners and institutions concerned to elaborate a cohesive development strategy for the sector.

• The flow of fisheries products in the marketing channels is facilitated by various kinds of support services and logistics such as transportation, communication and information services. The quality of fisheries products is very much dependent upon such services so that the products reach customers on time, at low-cost, in the right place and in the form demanded. In addition, the involvement of such kinds of services also generates marketing costs that influence the price paid by final consumers. Therefore, the mechanisms on how to create a win-win scenario when accessing the support services for fish marketing are still a question for many marketing agents.

• Fisheries products follow different routes to reach consumers and there are many marketing stages involved. However, an understanding of the fish marketing operations is still limited. The effectiveness the marketing channels and the importance of the roles of each marketing agent are the key considerations for planners and related institutions. Filling this information gap would help policy makers in design of fisheries development projects or programmes to enhance the performance of marketing agents in order to make more fisheries products available to consumers.

• In each marketing channel there is not only a physical flow of fisheries products from producers to consumers, but also a feedback flow of information from consumers to producers. In a top-down or command economy this backward flow of information was often skipped and consumers or marketing agents at following stages had to accept what was provided from earlier marketing stages. In the current situation of fish marketing in Viet Nam, the feedback flow of information is also limited. This is an obstacle for the Ministry and related institutions for a proper intervention for the development of the sector.

In this context, the studies on fish marketing aimed to:

• analyse the roles of the various market operators in fish marketing;

• examine the current fish marketing systems;

• evaluate the fish market performance and operation of fish market operators, and

• identify perceptions of fish market operators regarding problems and expectations for improved fish marketing.

1.2 Methodology

In order to have the project strategy clearly defined, a two-day inception workshop was held at the MOFI on 2-3 October 2001 by FAO, MOFI, and DANIDA-FSPS. The workshop drew the attention and participation of various actors and institutions in fisheries sector nationwide. The participants made valuable contributions with regard to the framework set by the project, the methodology to carry out the project and the geographical coverage of the project.

1.3 Project design

For this research project on Fish marketing and credit in Viet Nam a sample survey provinces and cities from the 3 regions were purposely selected namely Hanoi, Bac Can, Quang Ninh, and Nghe An in the north; Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, and Daklak in the central region; and Ho Chi Minh City, Ca Mau, An Giang, Kien Giang, and Ben Tre in the south (see table below).

Target respondents of the study were defined as the key stakeholders participating in fish marketing channels, starting from the primary producers to the final consumers. As this study concentrated on fish marketing, especially domestic marketing, its scope focused on issues of marketing of fisheries products at farm and fishing port levels and demand and consumption patterns of fisheries products at consumer level along with issues dealing with the operations of traders namely wholesalers, retailers, and processors or exporters. Therefore, the target respondent groups for the sample survey were: fish farmers, fisherfolk, wholesalers, processors/exporters, retailers, institutional consumers, and household consumers.

Sample distribution of the survey

A sample size of 2 077 respondents was determined for the whole country; 678 respondents were allocated for the north, 500 for the central region, and 899 for the south. The distribution of sample size among the provinces, cities, and the groups of respondents is presented in the Table above. In addition, in order to obtain a thorough understanding of the fish marketing and credit issues and to substantiate the information gathered from the sample survey for the purpose of analysis, about 85 in-depth interviews were conducted for different groups of respondents in various regions.

Various sampling techniques were used for the study. The purposive sampling method was used to select the provinces and cities as mentioned above. Districts, communes, markets, processors, exporters, etc. were selected by different methods of sampling, varying according to the situations in each region or province. The commonly used methods were simple random sampling, cluster sampling, convenience sampling, judgment sampling and snowball sampling.

1.4 Data collection methods

In order to understand fish marketing issues in the country, secondary data regarding the development of fisheries sectors over recent years were collected mainly from FICEN, FAO and GSO. Information related to the sector development plans, programme, and other sectoral issues was gathered from different departments under the MOFI in the forms of reports, papers, etc. In addition, the study also received exchange information from the FMIS under the FSPS-DANIDA on a database for fisheries classifications.

As data and information on the status, operations and performances of the key stakeholders in fish marketing channels were not available primary data were collected using a sample survey. The two prime tools for data collection in the sample survey were standardized questionnaire survey and in-depth interview.

The standardized questionnaires were designed for the seven different groups of respondents. Each set of questionnaires contained questions to obtain information from the respondents on the characteristics of the surveyed organizations, their operations and performances and problems they may encounter The in-depth interviews were conducted using open-ended questions. The analysis of these surveys is presented in section 3.

1.5 Data analysis methods

Data and information collected were coded and incorporated into computerized databases using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) software. Descriptive methods of analysis were used to describe the surveyed stakeholders in the chains, their operations and performances, using means, modes and percentages. Some diagrams were used for illustrating market operations. In addition, GINI coefficients were calculated for the analysis of market structure and market concentrations.