Although the shrimp industry has been heading towards sustainable development, the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp is still weak compared to other countries. The production cost of shrimp is still 25-50 US cents higher for each kilogram.
Fragmented production is believed to be the main reason. Most shrimp farms have an area of 1-2 ha per household while elsewhere in the world, this figure could be hundreds to thousands of hectares per household.
With other inputs such as food, chemicals, and microorganisms dependant on imports, extra costs add 10-20% to shrimp prices.