Workers are processing baby shrimp at the factory.
CONNECTION WITH FISHERMEN
Born and raised in the coastal village of Quang Hai commune (Quang Xuong), with 22 years of experience in purchasing and processing seafood, Mr. Pham Van Hoan realized that drying seafood is dependent on the weather. On days when there is no sunshine, fresh products such as baby shrimp, fish, jellyfish, etc must be sold immediately or they will become rotten. Therefore, fishermen are often forced by traders.
Mr. Hoan has boldly invested in drying ovens since 2015 and expanding the production scale. Currently, the enterprise has two drying ovens with a capacity of 30-40 tons/day. The enterprise is cooperating with 240 fishermen on product consumption after fishing seasonal seafood such as fish, jellyfish, baby shrimp, etc.
“Fishermen depend on the weather and the water. So when they have a bumper season with increasing production, I still buy all. There are times when it takes several days for the factory to work all day and night, drying until it runs out of fresh goods to stop”, Mr. Hoan shared.
Baby shrimp shall conquer the international markets.
ENHANCE THE VALUE
After realizing that many countries in the world are very fond of dried seafood products, Mr. Hoan has expanded the scale of production. At the same time, he expanded links with the fishermen to invest capital for them to repair fishing tools, buy diesel in advance, then sell products to the company later. His factory is currently a major dry goods producer for export in the northern region. Particularly, each year, the factory preliminary processes and dries more than 300 tons of baby shrimp to export to the market, equivalent to thousands of tons of fresh baby shrimp.
Baby shrimp naturally harvested in the mouth of the sea always has shiny and clean skin and contains a high nutritional value. Therefore, many countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc are fond of it. Mr. Hoan said that salt baby shrimps are exported to Korea 800-1000 tons/year; dried baby shrimp 500 tons/year, and herring 300 tons/year to Taiwan, China.
Thanks to high revenue, the company has created jobs and stable income for 40 regular workers in the factory, while seasonal workers sometimes increase by 20 people. In addition to purchasing in association with fishermen in Quang Hai commune, the company also buys from many fishermen in neighboring communes such as Quang Nham, Quang Dai, Quang Hung, etc.
Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the company’s revenue and production, but Mr. Hoan still buys and consumes products for local fishermen. Although there are still many difficulties due to the impact of the pandemic, the sea entrepreneur still expressed that he will expand his factory and invest in drying ovens with a capacity of about 50 tons of dry/day to buy more baby shrimp from fishermen. At the same time, he shall bring the typical products of Thanh Hoa coastal region to conquer international markets./.