'Bangladesh can overtake Vietnam in billion dollar global Pangas market'
Monday, 28 September 2009
Munima Sultana
Bangladesh can grab a large slice of the billion dollar global Pangas market, as local farms are raising the fish much cheaper than their Vietnamese counterparts, farmers and officials said Sunday.
Vietnam has a 98 per cent stake in global Pangas export, shipping fillet and fish worth over billion dollars in Europe and America last year at a rate the Bangladeshi farmers said only they can match in the international market.
With shrimp becoming a luxury food in the recession-hit West, millions of fish lovers have now switched their liking to Pangas, triggering a 20-30 per cent growth in consumption in the European markets alone over the past 18 months.
"Pangas fish farming has become an established agro-processing industry in the country over the last decade," said Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, a leader of Bangladesh fish farmer association.
"Yet, there has been no government initiative to explore export market for the fast booming farming sector. In contrast, Vietnam has moved aggressively and now enjoys a complete monopoly," he said.
According to the Department of Fisheries, Bangladeshi farmers last year cultivated 2.25 million metric tonnes of Pangas --- also known as catfish --- against a nationwide demand of 2.9 million metric tonnes.
Farmers said after a massive growth in the 1990s and earlier this decade, production has stagnated in the last two years owing to low price regime as the fish is considered poor people's protein source.
On an average farmers in the main Pangas production areas now spend Tk40 to raise one-kilogram Pangas fish, which is lower than the production cost in Vietnam.
"Yet, we have failed to cash in on our price advantages in the European market despite high demand. We lack hygiene and processing standards that are prerequisite for export," Sazzad said.
"There is no integrated plan from the authorities to export the fish, which can inject a new momentum in the Pangas industry and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs," he said.
Dr. MA Mazid, national consultant of UN Industries Development Organisation (UNIDO), said cultivation of Pangas has been a "big success story" of our agro sector in the past one decade.
"It can overtake shrimp as the leading frozen food export item, as research has shown Bangladeshi ponds and rivers are the most suitable place to raise Pangas," Mazid said.
To reach that goal, he said some 4,000 Pangas farms in the country should first ensure quality of fish fries, proper dietary feeding and environment friendly cultivation --- features seen as crucial for entry into the export market.
Farmers also admit that the Pangas cultivation suffers from a number of setbacks including non-availability of balanced food, excess land taxes and ban on import of some key raw materials.
"But most of these problems are created by the authorities. Unless they fix these setbacks, we can't grow like the Vietnamese farms," another farmer said.
A high official of Department of Fisheries said the government is aware of the export potential of Pangas, but the farmers should first come forward with an "integrated plan."
Sazzad said Vietnam has already set a target to earn $ 4.0 billion from Pangas export in 2010, "yet we are now sleeping over our potentials."
"We have recently sought incentives from the government to implement compliance standards demanded by the European Union. But so far we haven't heard anything from the government."
Bangladesh can grab a large slice of the billion dollar global Pangas market, as local farms are raising the fish much cheaper than their Vietnamese counterparts, farmers and officials said Sunday.
Vietnam has a 98 per cent stake in global Pangas export, shipping fillet and fish worth over billion dollars in Europe and America last year at a rate the Bangladeshi farmers said only they can match in the international market.
With shrimp becoming a luxury food in the recession-hit West, millions of fish lovers have now switched their liking to Pangas, triggering a 20-30 per cent growth in consumption in the European markets alone over the past 18 months.
"Pangas fish farming has become an established agro-processing industry in the country over the last decade," said Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, a leader of Bangladesh fish farmer association.
"Yet, there has been no government initiative to explore export market for the fast booming farming sector. In contrast, Vietnam has moved aggressively and now enjoys a complete monopoly," he said.
According to the Department of Fisheries, Bangladeshi farmers last year cultivated 2.25 million metric tonnes of Pangas --- also known as catfish --- against a nationwide demand of 2.9 million metric tonnes.
Farmers said after a massive growth in the 1990s and earlier this decade, production has stagnated in the last two years owing to low price regime as the fish is considered poor people's protein source.
On an average farmers in the main Pangas production areas now spend Tk40 to raise one-kilogram Pangas fish, which is lower than the production cost in Vietnam.
"Yet, we have failed to cash in on our price advantages in the European market despite high demand. We lack hygiene and processing standards that are prerequisite for export," Sazzad said.
"There is no integrated plan from the authorities to export the fish, which can inject a new momentum in the Pangas industry and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs," he said.
Dr. MA Mazid, national consultant of UN Industries Development Organisation (UNIDO), said cultivation of Pangas has been a "big success story" of our agro sector in the past one decade.
"It can overtake shrimp as the leading frozen food export item, as research has shown Bangladeshi ponds and rivers are the most suitable place to raise Pangas," Mazid said.
To reach that goal, he said some 4,000 Pangas farms in the country should first ensure quality of fish fries, proper dietary feeding and environment friendly cultivation --- features seen as crucial for entry into the export market.
Farmers also admit that the Pangas cultivation suffers from a number of setbacks including non-availability of balanced food, excess land taxes and ban on import of some key raw materials.
"But most of these problems are created by the authorities. Unless they fix these setbacks, we can't grow like the Vietnamese farms," another farmer said.
A high official of Department of Fisheries said the government is aware of the export potential of Pangas, but the farmers should first come forward with an "integrated plan."
Sazzad said Vietnam has already set a target to earn $ 4.0 billion from Pangas export in 2010, "yet we are now sleeping over our potentials."
"We have recently sought incentives from the government to implement compliance standards demanded by the European Union. But so far we haven't heard anything from the government."